


Just Another Day in Dreamland

by average_egg



Category: Kirby (Video Games), Kirby - All Media Types, Part Time UFO
Genre: Gen, OUTER SPAAACCCEEE, but not always outer space, non-gijinka
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-06-04
Updated: 2018-09-28
Packaged: 2019-05-17 23:17:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 23,051
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14841099
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/average_egg/pseuds/average_egg
Summary: Kirby's got a pretty simple life. Just having fun with his friends, going fishing, and eating everything in sight. There's also the occasional alien invasion, but what can you do about that? One day, Kirby gets a new friend in the form of an eons old space warrior who's tired of fighting and just wants to start over, but it seems that the world has other plans in mind.





	1. Galacta Knight's Arrival

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Galacta Knight breaks out of his crystal seal after eons of being still.

Deep in space, hundreds of billions of light years away from any sentient life, shone a deep magenta star. Oddly colored flames flared from its surface, and within laid a dormant warrior, sleeping within its crystal core. It had been this way for eons. Great civilizations had risen and collapsed while he slept, unaware of the passing time. However, nothing could stay the same forever. Bright flares lanced out from the star's surface, disrupted by strange internal activity. Then, all at once, the flames were extinguished. The pink crystal within was the star's only remain, and a crack spread across its surface. Red eyes opened from beneath the warrior's mask that soon faded to a pink, and the crystal seal shattered. Feathery white wings stretched out after millenia of stillness.

_Where am I? Where is this?_

He turned his eyes to his weapon, a pink lance. "Univou, what happened? There was a fight, and then... I can't remember." The lance's hilt glowed violet, and the weapon spoke in his mind.

_We were winning, but then we were sealed away in crystal. I do not know how long it has been since, but the stars have changed positions, it seems. I doubt anyone we knew is still alive. This could be a chance for you to start over, Galacta._

A small smile crept across the knight's face, hidden by his mask. "A second chance at life... yeah, guess I could use that." He swept his lance, Univou, across nothing, tearing open a rift in space. With a flap of his wings, Galacta Knight disappeared into the portal, leaving behind nothing but glittering fragments of crystal.

\-----

Waves splashed against the shore around Onion Ocean. A happy pink puffball ran away from the waves as they washed in, then followed them back out as they receded. He played with the water, splashing at it while laughing. It was just another calm day in Dreamland for Kirby. The simplicity of the day was broken, however, when a strange tear opened up in midair. Kirby rushed to it, wondering what it would do. Soon, a masked puffball flew out of it, holding a lance and a shield. The new arrival flapped its wings and settled to the ground, looking around. Only then did he notice Kirby, and immediately took up a defensive stance.

"Hi! I'm Kirby! Who are you? You look like Meta Knight," said Kirby happily to the winged warrior. Galacta Knight lowered his weapon, confused.

"My name is Galacta Knight," he told Kirby. "...You seem pretty unfazed for having seen me come out of a portal."

Kirby tilted his head. "Portals are probably super convenient! If I could make em, I would use em for all sorts of things! Like, I could get food without having to get up, and..." He noticed the knight looking at him bemusedly. "...Anyway, are you new to Dreamland? I know most people around here, but I don't think I recognize you."

Galacta relaxed a bit. Kirby seemed a bit odd, but not actually dangerous. "Yes, I'm foreign," he nodded as he spoke. "Where is this? I'm not exactly sure where my portal took me. You said this was... Dreamland? On what planet?"

Kirby just smiled at him again. "Yep! Dreamland is one of the countries on Planet Popstar. That's the planet we're on! This place, right here, is Onion Ocean. I can show you around Dreamland if you want!" Galacta Knight was hesitant to accept his offer, but his lance's hilt glowed violet as it asserted its sentience.

_You should be more trusting, Galacta. Accept the child's hospitality._

Kirby's eyes widened as he saw the glow. "Oh! Cool! Your lance glows! Now c'mon, let me show you around!" He grabbed Galacta's hand, no longer waiting for a confirmation that the knight wanted to come, and started leading Galacta down the beach.

\-----

"You see those islands over there?" chattered Kirby. Galacta nodded, watching Kirby. They were of the same species, he noted with surprise. Puffballs were very rare. "They're called the Float Islands! That's where Kabula lives. Kabula's kind of scary when you first meet her, but she's actually really nice! Oh, watch out!" Kirby alerted Galacta of a falling coconut, which exploded when it hit the ground, making him jump.

"Thanks. That was unexpected. I've never seen such explosive plants on other planets I've been to," Galacta mused, examining the tree from which the coconut fell.

Kirby nodded. "Yep, those coconuts are dangerous if they fall on you, but if you manage to eat em before they explode, they're really good!" He went up to a different tree, and another coconut began to fall. Galacta's eyes widened, but he stayed put, knowing that a resident of the planet would know much more than he would. Much to Galacta's surprise, Kirby opened his mouth and began to inhale. Air rushed towards him like a vaccum, and the coconut was pulled in. He closed his mouth around the coconut. Galacta waited for an explosion from within the smaller puffball, but the explosion never came. Kirby swallowed the coconut in one big gulp. Galacta's eyes widened, impressed.

"Y'see?" Kirby said, smiling. "They don't explode if you eat em! They're really good!" Noticing Galacta's surprised stare, Kirby thought to himself a bit. "Actually I don't think anyone else I know can eat these... oh! Actually, Dedede probably can! I should go get you to meet Dedede and my other friends!" Once more, Galacta was dragged off by the younger puffball.

\-----

Galacta was led by Kirby across rolling hills covered in green grass. They were approaching an ochre yellow castle, and a waddle dee with a spear in his hand was standing by the entrance. Seeing Kirby, he made a squeaking noise and opened the castle door. Kirby dashed in without a moment's consideration, but Galacta Knight hesitated for a second before following.

"Are you sure you're allowed in here?" asked Galacta following Kirby as he ran down the main hall. He was moving fast, and Galacta had to unfold his wings and glide to keep up.

"Of course I'm allowed in! Dedede's a friend of mine," responded Kirby, not breaking his pace. He dashed around corners and up stairwells, Galacta close behind, until the two of them reached the throne room. There, they met the sight of a large blue penguin on the throne squinting intently at a small pamphlet in his hands. At the sound of footsteps, he looked up.

"Hey, if it isn't Kirby!" he said, throwing the pamphlet to the side. "And Meta Knight! What's that new getup, huh?"

Kirby laughed. "This isn't Meta Knight! This is my new friend, Galacta Knight! He flew out of a portal while I was playing out near Onion Ocean."

The penguin tensed almost imperceptibly for a split second, but his casual demeanor returned just as soon as it had been gone. "A new guy, huh? I guess I gotta introduce myself then! I'm Dedede, the king o' Dreamland. I do all the ruling round these parts. Ya got that?"

Galacta raised a nonexistent eyebrow. Kirby was friends with a king? Ignoring his own confusion, he bowed. "It is a pleasure to meet you, your majesty."

"Eh, don't bother with them formalities," Dedede chuckled. "I get enough o' that from the Waddle Dees."

"Oh yeah!" Kirby cut in suddenly. "We came here to ask you something!"

"Ask away, kid."

"Have you ever eaten a coconut directly from the tree before?"

Dedede went slightly pale. "No way! Those'd just explode as soon as I eat em! I like being alive, thanks. Far as I know, you're the only one who can do that sorta thing."

Kirby frowned. "Hmm, okay then. Thanks anyway! C'mon Galacta, let's go!" He ran out the door they had come from.

"It was nice to meet you," Galacta said to the king again, before following Kirby out.

As soon as the two of them had left and were out of hearing range, Dedede grabbed a walkie talkie from his sleeve and pressed a button. "Yo Meta, we got a suspicious individual on our hands. Kirby said he came out of some kinda portal. His name's Galacta Knight." There was a loud gasp from the other end of the walkie talkie, followed by the clang of a sword being drawn. Then there was silence. "Meta? Yo, Meta Knight, you still there? Man, I can never get any respect round here."

\-----

Kirby and Galacta walked along a dirt path, the border between rolling hills and a large deciduous forest. "So, where are we going?" Galacta asked the smaller puff.

"I'm gonna show you my house! Oh yeah, that reminds me, you don't have anywhere to stay, huh?"

Galacta nodded. "I came here through pure chance, so I didn't think to make any preparations anywhere. Just picked a random place in the universe, and went for it."

"Hmm." Kirby thought for a bit. "How about you live with me until you can find somewhere else to stay? I've always wanted a roommate!"

Galacta blinked, surprised. "I'll have to think about that. Oh, is that your house?" They stopped in front of a white, dome-shaped house with a chimney.

"Yep!" Kirby went to open the door. As Galacta waited, he felt a disturbance in the wind. It seemed as though something was plummeting towards him from the sky at a very high speed. He looked around, but saw nothing. Suddenly, seemingly from nowhere, a sword struck out at him. Quick as a flash, he blocked the strike with his shield. When he felt the pressure had been removed, he lowered his shield and took a look at his attacker. It was another puffball, this one a dark blue, and wearing a mask similar to his own.

"Who are you? Why did you attack me?" Galacta asked. Kirby turned around from his house to see what was going on. The blue puffball didn't respond, only charging at Galacta again with his sword.

"Meta, what're you doing? Stop that!" Kirby placed himself between the two masked puffs, and Meta Knight slid to a stop. He turned to Kirby.

"Kirby, this new friend of yours is incredibly dangerous. You need to listen to me. Galacta Knight is an evil warrior from hundreds of thousands of years ago! He was so horribly destructive that they had to seal him away! If we don't defeat him, he'll wreak havoc on this world once more!"

Galacta Knight looked at Meta Knight, then at his lance. "Well, there goes my chance for a fresh start."

Univou glowed in response. _I wouldn't say that your chance for a new life has been ruined completely yet..._ The lance motioned towards Kirby, who was looking at Meta Knight angrily.

"Galacta's nice! He's my friend now, and I won't let my friends fight my friends! Besides, if he were that evil, wouldn't he have already done something nasty?"

"Don't you remember what happened with Magolor? We were all deceived by his friendly appearance, and then he tried to take over the universe!"

Kirby thought for a moment. "It turned out fine afterward, though! And Magolor's our friend now!"

Meta Knight sighed. "I see I won't be able to convince you. I suppose I'll just have to trust in your ability to defeat him once he shows his true colors." His cape swirled around him, and the blue puffball was gone.

Kirby turned to Galacta Knight. "That was Meta Knight. He's usually really nice, but I guess he thinks you're evil or something."

Galacta remained silent, his eyes pointed towards the ground. "I... have done some questionable things in the past. But after having been sealed away for so long, I hoped that I would be able to move past that. Start over. But, well... I guess I'll have to go to another planet for that new life." He spread his wings. "Any planet that knows of my past will see me as an enemy." He took off into the sky, flying higher and higher. Once he was in space, he could see the entirety of Planet Popstar. It was a beautiful, simple planet, shaped like a five-pointed star and shining a soft gold color. It was a shame that he would have to leave it behind. He turned around and prepared to fly off when he heard an odd noise. He looked around for the noise's source, and was promptly knocked into by a pink puffball on a golden star, not unlike a miniature version of the planet itself. The noise stopped as the star came to a halt, and Kirby looked Galacta Knight in the eyes.

"I don't think you're an enemy!"

Galacta looked at Kirby. "You don't know the exact details of what I've done."

Kirby shook his head. "I don't care! If you want to put whatever's in your past behind you and start a new life, then it really doesn't matter what you've done! I'm not gonna let one of my friends be driven off the planet!"

Univou glowed, temporarily connecting itself to Kirby's mind. _You are a kind soul. I thank you for trusting Galacta._

Kirby looked at Univou in surprise. "You glow AND you talk? That's so cool!"

Univou chuckled, then continued. _In any case, I believe your optimism can be a good influence on Galacta. He's been through quite a lot, and has come to expect the worst from every situation. Galacta, Kirby trusts you. It would be cruel to betray that trust and leave behind your new friend._

Galacta looked at Univou, then at Kirby. He looked back at Planet Popstar, and he smiled. "I suppose I could stay for a bit."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That was the first chapter of this fanfic! This fanfiction's probably gonna go on for a long time, so prepare yourselves! Anyway, I think Galacta Knight doesn't get enough love in fanfictions. Hope you enjoyed this chapter, cause there's gonna be a lot more where that came from.


	2. The Ninja and the UFO- part 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Meta Knight assigns two spies to Galacta Knight.

It was an early morning on Planet Popstar. The sun had not risen yet, and the birds had not awoken to chirp their melodies. All was silent. Among the silence and the darkness, a winged figure landed in front of a round house and sat down on the grass. Galacta Knight had been out surveying the country almost all night, and needed to take a break. He watched the horizon, waiting for sunrise.

"Ah! It's unexpected to see someone up so early!"

Galacta instinctively raised Univou, and looked at who had spoken. It was a Bronto Burt, one of the common species of Popstar, except this one had white feathers instead of the usual bright pink.

"Whoa there! No need to get violent!" The Bronto Burt backed away, fluttering his insectoid wings nervously. "Sorry," apologized Galacta, noticing he was still in a defensive stance, and lowered Univou. "I was surprised."

"Apology accepted." The Bronto Burt pulled some envelopes out of a box he was carrying, an impressive feat considering he had no hands. "Erm, okay, I don't seem to recognize you. Would you happen to be visiting from another planet?"

Galacta tilted his head. "Well, I never considered myself to come from any planet in particular, but this planet seems nice, as do the people here, so I'll be staying here for a good while. By the way, I'm really incredibly sorry for raising my weapon at you."

The Bronto Burt relaxed a bit as he noted Galacta's sincerity. He opened a panel in the side of Kirby's house and began putting envelopes in. "Well, nice to meet you, then. My name's Albert, by the way. I deliver the mail here in Dreamland."

Galacta nodded. "I'm Galacta Knight. It's a pleasure to meet you. I'm waiting for the sun to rise so I can watch what a sunrise looks like on Popstar. You're free to join me, if you'd like."

Albert chuckled. "That sounds splendid, but I really must be going. It's tough, having to deliver all of Dreamland's mail."

Galacta waved as he left. _Wow, I really need to work on stopping that fight or flight reaction._

Univou glowed. _All progress takes time. Don't worry._ Galacta looked back towards the horizon, watching as dawn broke.

\-----

Miles away and miles above, a ringing alarm broke out in the soldiers' barracks aboard Meta Knight's flying battleship, the Halberd. The day had started, and it was time to get moving. Some soldiers scrambled out of their beds to get to their positions as quickly as possible, while others gave up their sleep with obvious reluctance. One by one, the soldiers left the barracks to go eat breakfast. As the group reached the cafeteria, a friendly chattering broke out. Most everyone was sitting in some sort of friend group, having light conversations alongside their meals. A lone bio spark sat at a table in the corner, eating in silence.

"Um, you're Kaboe, right?" The bio spark looked up to see it was a waddle dee who had asked the question.

"Yes, that's me," Kaboe confirmed. "What do you need?"

The waddle dee shuffled uncertainly. "Well, uh, I was told that I should tell you, you should head to the special job assignment room. Yeah."

Kaboe nodded at the waddle dee. "Thank you for telling me. I'll go there now." She quickly finished her cereal, and got up to leave.

"Oh! Right!" The waddle dee remembered something. "Um... good luck. I hope you get a good job."

"Thanks." Kaboe strode out of the cafeteria.

\-----

Morning sunlight streamed in from the wall-high windows in the special job assignment room. Meta Knight stood facing away from the door, watching the countryside below him as the Halberd flew through the air. He heard the squeak of a door opening, and turned around.

"Ah, Kaboe, good. You're here."

"I am. What job do you have for me?"

Meta Knight pulled out a folder. "Yesterday, someone unexpected arrived on Planet Popstar." He pulled an image out of the folder, throwing it to Kaboe. "His name is Galacta Knight. He is a warrior from eons past, and a dangerous one at that." Walking closer to Kaboe, he pulled another image from the folder. "One day, a group of powerful mages sought to seal him away, to contain his power. In the fight, he went on a mad rampage and ended up destroying multiple planets. He was eventually sealed away, but not until after doing irreparable damage. It seems that after all this time, Galacta Knight has escaped." Kaboe took the second picture as well, which showed bits of rubble, floating in space. Her blood ran cold when she realized what they had been.

"So, you say that this... monster is on Popstar?" Meta Knight nodded at Kaboe, and she continued. "Sir Meta Knight, with all due respect, if my mission is to assasinate or kill someone able to destroy planets, I don't believe I'm capable. Sir."

Meta Knight shook his head. "Don't worry. I wouldn't assign you to something like that. Your skills are much better used in stealth." He turned towards the window. "I'm assigning you as a spy to Galacta Knight. I would challenge him to a fight myself, but there's been a complication. He's already convinced Kirby that he's friendly. And worse yet, Kirby has allowed him to reside at his home for the time being."

Kaboe cringed internally. She had never met Kirby himself, but she had heard stories about the ridiculously powerful child who would do _anything_ to protect his friends. "I see how that would be a problem, sir. What does my job as a spy entail, more specifically?"

Meta Knight turned back towards Kaboe. "You are to report any suspicious activity of his. So far, he has not caused any big trouble on Popstar, so there's no need to report his every action, but I'm sure he's just waiting to gain our trust before he shatters it all in a single moment of betrayal." Kaboe shivered slightly at the description, remembering the picture of the shattered planets.

"I see. This sounds like a difficult job, but I can do it."

Meta Knight nodded. "Good. Of course, I wouldn't expect you to take this job alone. I've assigned someone to be your partner, and they should be here any minute now." The door squeaked open once more, and a small UFO with eyes flew in. "Ah, there they are. Kaboe, this is Hata. They're a mercenary from the next galaxy over. Hata is already up to date with the situation." Hata cast a bored look at Kaboe before turning to the window. "Now then, like I said, you two are assigned to spy on Galacta Knight. It may very well be a dangerous task, but I believe the two of you are capable. Begin as soon as you can. You are both dismissed."

Hata looked back at Meta Knight. "I am getting paid for this, right?"

Kaboe could already tell that this was going to be one of her stranger jobs.

\-----

Galacta had been sitting in the morning sun, relaxing for a few hours. Behind him, the door to Kirby's house opened, and Kirby stretched his stubby arms out as he walked out. For some reason, he was holding a frying pan. "Good morning, Galacta! You sure get up early!"

"Good morning to you as well. I assume it's normal to get up around this time in Dreamland?"

Kirby looked a bit confused. "Is it different in other places? Well, whatever. I'm gonna go out to get breakfast. You should come too! C'mon!" Kirby dashed off into the woods with his frying pan. Galacta followed him, wondering what exactly Kirby was going to do. Kirby and Galacta dashed past trees and bushes, until they finally came to a clearing. At the end of the clearing, there was a huge tree.

"Hi, Whispy! Can I have some apples?" Kirby asked the tree in a loud voice.

To Galacta's surprise, a few holes opened up on the tree's trunk in the shape of a face. "Of course you can, Kirby," the tree responded. "I see you've brought a friend with you. He can also have as many apples as he'd like."

Kirby beamed. "Thanks, Whispy!" He inhaled some air and floated up to Whispy's leaves. He then landed on a branch, and began whacking enormous apples to the ground with his frying pan. "C'mon Galacta, you should do this too!"

 _I see. That's what the pan was for_ , glowed Univou as Galacta flew up to join Kirby in the tree's branches. He swung Univou gently with a flick of his wrist, and send out a lance beam. The beam homed in on an apple, cutting it from its stem. It then changed course, closing in on another apple and doing the same. Soon, the forest floor was littered with fallen apples. Galacta dispersed the lance beam.

"Hmm. That's a lot more apples than I was expecting. I don't think we'll be able to eat that many." Galacta picked up one of the apples.

"Oh, don't worry about that! This is a good amount!" Kirby responded. "Now then..." He lifted the frying pan above his face, and swallowed it whole. Galacta just stared in confusion. Suddenly, a chef's hat manifested on his head, and the frying pan reappeared in his hand. "Chef Kirby!"

Galacta was confused about what Kirby had just done, but his confusion was cut off by suspicion when he heard a strange rustling. "What was that!?"

"Oh! That's right! I didn't tell you about my copy ability! When I eat things, I can gain their powers!" Kirby looked proud.

Galacta shook his head. "I'm glad to have an explanation for that, at least, but that's not what i was talking about. There was some sort of weird rustling a few seconds ago. I hope it wasn't anything dangerous..."

Kirby looked a bit dejected. "There's not really anyone dangerous on all of Popstar. Sure, there are plenty of strong people, like Meta Knight, and like me! But no one's dangerous."

Galacta tilted his head. "I... guess that makes sense. I'll take your word for it."

Over in the bushes, Kaboe and Hata were watching. They had just found Galacta, and weren't eager to be immediately discovered. "That was close," sighed Kaboe.

Hata snickered a bit. "Funny how he's the one scared of anyone dangerous being around."

In the clearing, Kirby raised his frying pan high up. It glowed, then summoned a large cauldron. Kirby swung the pan downwards, and everything nearby began to gravitate towards the cauldron. The numerous apples on the ground were pulled into the pot, seemingly more than would be able to fit.

"Gyah!" mumbled Hata as they felt the force pulling on them as well. They extended a retractable claw grabber and held onto a tree. Kaboe grabbed onto Hata, and the two held on as hard as they could to avoid being sucked into the cauldron as well. After about a minute, all the apples had been pulled into the cauldron. Kirby's pan flashed again, and the pull stopped. The mixture of apples inside the cauldron began to glow and change form. Then, where there had once been apples, there was a cauldron full of soup!

"Perfect! Apple soup!" Kirby took out two bowls from under his hat and filled them both with the soup. He gave one bowl to Galacta, and took the other himself. "Here! Eat up!" He then emptied the entire bowl in his mouth and went back to refill it. Galacta looked at the bowl, and hesitated. Kirby, noticing Galacta wasn't eating, tilted his head. "What's wrong? You not gonna eat anything? I mean, I'm totally able to eat all of this, but food tastes better when it's shared with friends!"

Galacta stared at the soup a bit. "I'm just not sure how I would be able to eat this without removing my mask," he admitted.

Kirby laughed. "I don't think you can, you just gotta take the mask off! Meta Knight's always got his mask on cause he's self concious about the way he looks, but you don't seem like the kind of person who'd care about that."

Galacta looked around worriedly. "This mask serves as armor. Without it, I'd be vulnerable to attack."

Kirby frowned. "Why would anyone attack you? Like I said earlier, there's no one dangerous on Popstar."

Galacta sighed. "Right. I keep forgetting it's safe here." He took his mask off, revealing a face similar to Kirby's as well as a perfectly circular scar on his right cheek.

"Huh. wonder where that scar came from," muttered Hata to themself.

"Shh! Be quiet!" Kaboe told them.

Kirby looked closely at Galacta. "Hey! You look like me! And like Meta Knight, too! What's up with that?"

Hata repressed a snort. "Seriously? Meta Knight has that face?"

"I said to shut up!"

Ignoring every single one of his instincts, Galacta ignored the indistict mumbling and took a sip of the soup. Surprisingly, it tasted nothing like apples. He ate more, not having realized how hungry he was until then. He quickly drained two, and then three bowls of soup. "This is quite good, Kirby."

Kirby beamed. "Thanks! My chef copy ability makes me able to turn anything into any food! And foods into other foods, even!" He discarded the copy ability, and the chef hat vanished. A star mark appeared on the frying pan, marking it as a copy essence. Soon enough, the two hungry puffballs had finished the entire cauldron of soup. The cauldron then vanished like the chef hat had.

"I must thank you for the breakfast, Kirby." He turned to the tree. "And you too, uh, you said your name was Whispy?"

The tree smiled at Galacta. "Yes, my name is Whispy Woods, but you may call me Whispy."

Galacta nodded. "Yes, thank you, Whispy. Now then, I'd like to be off. I saw some odd-looking ruins earlier when I was flying around, and I feel up to investigating them now." He fit his mask back onto his face, and flew off. "Bye, Galacta!" Kirby waved. Unknown to either of them, Hata and Kaboe were already fast on Galacta's trail.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was originally one chapter, but I misjudged how long it would be, and had to split it in two. That's why this chapter is as ending-less as it is. Also, if anyone was wondering, this fic's starting point in time is after Planet Robobot, but before Star Allies. Part two is probably going to be released tomorrow, so you guys don't have to wait too long! Also YES Hata is a reference to the mobile game Part Time UFO. It's called Hataraku UFO in Japan, so I figured I might as well shorten it.


	3. The Ninja and the UFO- part 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Galacta Knight goes to explore some ruins, and finds someone lost inside. Hata and Kaboe spy on him.

Galacta Knight flew out past the trees of Green Greens and over the rolling hills of Cookie Country. Below him followed Kaboe and Hata, fast as they could.

"Hurry up, Hata, if we lose him, he might do something horrific, and we'll have no way of telling Sir Meta Knight!"

Hata rolled his eyes while flying past at a leisurely pace. "Yeah, yeah."

Kaboe sighed. "And you might lose this job. That means you won't get paid."

At the mention of money, Hata sped up considerably. They grabbed Kaboe with their extendable claw-arm and carried her through the air at high speed. "Why didn't you say so?! That could've been costly!"

Kaboe shook her head. "Well, whatever. At least we're going faster now." Above them, Galacta passed over a cave system. Hata slowed down, flying farther behind as to not be seen. Past the rocky caves, Galacta finally landed on the ground. In front of him, a tall pyramid stood, casting the whole area in shadow. Hata came to a stop and released Kaboe from their claw. The two of them hid behind a rock and watched Galacta as he entered the pyramid.

Kaboe pulled a walkie talkie from her large scarf. "Sir Meta Knight, this is Kaboe. Galacta Knight has just entered Raisin Ruins."

Meta Knight's voice responded from the other end of the device. "Continue following him. If he slips from your sight for even a second, the consequences may very well be world ending."

"Understood." Kaboe turned off the walkie talkie, and the two of them followed Galacta into the pyramid.

The inside of the pyramid was dark, with nothing but the light from the entrance to illuminate its corridors. Galacta raised Univou, and a bright magenta flame lit its tip. With the light to see where he was going, he continued further into the pyramid. Every few meters, a ball of flame flew from Univou and suspended itself in midair. A soft pink light flooded the ruins. As Galacta walked on, he looked around at the corridor walls. Hieroglyphs were inscribed on them, along with images of various deadly-looking weapons.

"Halcandran runes..." he muttered to himself.

Univou glowed violet, adding a bluish tinge to the room's light. _It appears this was once an armory of sorts. What the Halcandrans were doing on such a rural planet, I don't know._

"Maybe we'll find out if we explore further." He continued the winding halls, leaving behind a trail of magical flames. From a distance, Kaboe and Hata followed the trail.

\-----

Bandana Dee had been lost in the ruins for what seemed to him like weeks. King Dedede sent him to investigate the ruins for clues of an anti-possession helmet, but Bandana Dee had been overconfident and didn't prepare for getting lost, and he hadn't even brought his spear. His headlamp battery had died out some time ago, forcing him to explore in darkness. The only sounds were those of his own footsteps. Left foot, right foot, left foot, right foot. Suddenly, Bandana Dee heard a _click_ as he stepped further downwards than he had expected. Far away, there was a loud thud and the sound of a very large object rolling.

"Oh no."

Bandana Dee heard the sound grow louder and louder, and without a moment's thought, began to run away from the noise as fast as he could. He couldn't see where he was going at all, but ran best he could anyway to avoid being flattened. However, running in darkness isn't the easiest thing to do, especially when there are mazelike halls all around you that twist and turn. Bandana Dee slammed into a wall at high speed, and fell over.

"Ugh... I guess this is it..." he groaned. To his surprise, for the first time in hours, he could see a light. The room around him was illuminated in a pink color, and he could now see the boulder rolling towards him that was about to crush him. He closed his eyes, bracing himself for his inevitable demise.

"Whoa!" The waddle dee heard another voice call out, and he was grabbed and lifted into the air. He opened his eyes, and saw the boulder roll beneath them and crumble as it hit the wall. He looked at the one who had saved him, and saw a deep magenta puffball with feathery white wings.

"That was close. Thanks for saving me. I really owe you one... or actually, I probably owe you more than one," Bandana sighed in relief.

The winged puffball landed on the ground. "Don't mention it. I was able to help, so I did." The flame at the tip of his lance flickered, sending moving shadows across the walls. "If you're lost in these ruins, I left a trail of flames back from where I entered. You can follow those to get out."

Bandana shook his head. "I... I would love to get out of here, but I came in here for a reason, and I won't leave until I've found it! My name's Bandana Dee, by the way."

The masked puffball's eyes gleamed ominously in the flame's light. "I see. I'm Galacta Knight. I think I may be able to help you find what you're looking for, if you give me some details about it."

Bandana Dee's eyes widened. "Really? That would be great! I mean, you don't have to, since you just met me and already saved my life... actually, scratch that. I'll gladly take your help. I'm looking for clues on a helmet that stops the wearer from being possessed."

Galacta Knight blinked in surprise. "That's oddly specific. But it does sound like something that would be in a Halcandran armory."

Tilting his head, Bandana Dee asked, "Uh, how did you know this was a Halcandran armory? Dreamland's archaeologists only just deciphered these ancient Halcandran runes and found out what this place actually was."

"I can read Halcandran," Galacta replied. "Well, I suppose it's become ancient Halcandran after so long..."

"I'm just not going to question you at this point." Bandana Dee examined the walls while he walked, taking note of all the image carvings he could understand. "Say, if you can read ancient Halcandran, maybe you can try looking at the walls for any hints of the helmet? As far as the scholars could figure, these walls functioned as some sort of catalog for each specific type of weapon and armor. Maybe not here, though, since all these pictures are of axes."

"I'll see what I can do," Galacta agreed, nodding. The two continued onwards into the depths of the ruins, still followed by the spies.

\-----

"Yeegh, they've been in these ruins for AGES now, how long are we gonna have to stay in this dusty old pyramid?" Hata and Kaboe had been following Galacta and Bandana for hours now, and the duo didn't seem to show any sign of wanting to leave anytime soon. Hata was getting restless, and Kaboe couldn't say she blamed them. She increased her pace to keep up with Hata, and tripped over something invisible.

Hata floated back over to her. "Heh, aren't you ninjas supposed to be graceful and stuff?"

Kaboe gave Hata a dirty look. "There's something here. I don't think it's visible, but it's here." She felt around where she had tripped and felt an odd cube-shaped object where there appeared to be nothing. "See? Just look." She picked it up, and the ground around her began to shake. Beneath her, a stone tile flipped open, and Kaboe fell. Hata flew down to check on her.

Ahead, Galacta and Bandana heard the rumbling. "What in the stars was that!?" Galacta exclaimed.

Bandana Dee looked around. "This place is very old, so it would make sense that there would be a few cave-ins. Watch your step."

Galacta shook his head. "I've been having the oddest feeling that I've been being watched since this morning, but... I guess a cave-in would be more likely."

Kaboe looked up at the opening she had fell through. "Great. This is definitely helpful. Hata, do you think you can-" She was cut off by the sound of the stone tile flipping shut.

"Nah, I don't think I can," Hata responded. Kaboe cast an exasperated look at them. "Well, whatever. I guess I can do this," they mumbled, lighting up the end of their antenna, casting a soft glow around the ruins around them. There was only one pathway leading out of the room they were in, and various pictures of eyes were carved into the stone walls.

"Well, at least you can do something. C'mon, let's find a way out. We have to get back to watching Galacta Knight." The two of them continued on, leaving behind the room they were in.

Kaboe looked around as they went down the hall. "It's strange how there's only one path," she commented. "Before we fell down here, the whole place was like a maze. Makes me wonder what's up ahead..."

"Well, I guess that makes it easier for us," Hata said nonchalantly.

Kaboe nodded. "Yes, but I hope Galacta Knight doesn't decide to destroy Popstar while we're not there to tell Meta Knight..."

\-----

Galacta Knight read the runes on the wall, and shook his head. He and Bandana Dee had finally reached the area that showed helmets, but none of the descriptions matched what they were looking for. There were all sorts of other useful-sounding things, like a helmet that made you fireproof or one that made you invisible, but nothing that prevented possession.

"Someone must have been possesed quite a few times to warrant an anti-possession helmet," Galacta said absentmindedly.

Bandana Dee winced. "Yeah, King Dedede's had quite a few run-ins with possession. He's got pretty bad luck with that sort of thing." He went back to looking at the pictures of helmets on the wall. "Hey, wait a second, could this be it?" He pointed to a carving of a helmet with a single eye on the forehead. "The guys that kept possessing people a while back looked like eyes on dark blobs, so maybe there's a correlation."

Galacta peered at the carving. "Yes, this looks to be it. Let's see what the description says... 'To keep in control, you must take what you cannot see. Hidden below, you must insert the key. Only then will you be able to find me.' I have no idea what that means."

Bandana thought about it for a moment. "Yeesh, are they all riddles like that? How did anyone ever find anything?" He paused. "Whatever, this is enough of a clue. I've been in here for way too long, and it's probably okay for me to go back to the castle now. Thanks for helping, Galacta! Bye!" He started to walk back in the direction of the flames, but as he did, his foot brushed past a carefully hidden wire. A slab of stone slammed shut directly in front of his face, blocking him from going any further. "Never mind then," he said in a small voice. "Guess I'll stay in here a while longer."

Galacta looked further down the corridor. "Only one way to go now."

\-----

It had been nearly half an hour since Kaboe and Hata had begun going down the long hallway, and there was no sign of any exit.

"Ugh," Hata groaned, "We've been walking for so long that I can't feel my feet."

Kaboe turned towards them. "You don't have feet," she reminded them. "And you've been flying, not walking."

Hata rolled their eyes. "Incredible. I would have never known." They continued onwards in silence, and the corridor began to widen as they went on. The roof slanted upwards. Eventually, they reached a dead end.

"Seriously? There's no exit? Who in the stars designed this place!?" Hata flew around, searching the walls for any hidden doorways. "Nothing! Absolutely noth- oof!" They bumped into something they couldn't see next to the dead end's wall. "What the heck? Huh, another invisible thingy. Yo Kaboe, maybe this has something to do with that thing you picked up earlier."

Kaboe approached the invisible object, and pulled the cube she had picked up from her scarf. She felt around the object, and noticed an indentation. Going by her instincts, she placed the cube within the indentation, and the previously invisible object shimmered into view. It was a stone pedestal, covered in more carvings of eyes. The cube she had put in also had eyes carved all over it. Another shimmer appeared atop the pedestal, and a helmet that wasn't there before teleported on top. It was white, with a single red eye painted on the top. Kaboe picked it up.

"Great. We found a helmet, but where's the way out?" Just as Kaboe had spoken those words, the the dead end wall rose up to reveal a staircase going back up. "Ask and you shall receive, huh?"

The two of them began to ascend the staircase, and saw the rosy hue of Galacta's fire magic as they got to the hall. Hata put out his antenna's glow, and the two of them quickly followed the trail of flames to catch up. "Hey Kaboe, that helmet you grabbed, you think it's the one Bandana's looking for?"

Kaboe considered it. "It might be. I think I heard some stories about eye creatures being related to possession."

"Then we gotta figure out how to get it to em, otherwise they're gonna stay in here forever and we'll have to stay with em."

Kaboe nodded. "You're right, but we'll have to make sure to be careful. We don't want to get caught." They saw Galacta and Bandana up ahead and quickly hid behind a corner.

"I can't believe it! Just as soon as we found a clue on what we were looking for, we get our path out blocked! This is an injustice; a crime, even!" Bandana Dee ranted.

"Calm down," Galacta told him. "Think about this: as long as we're in here, we'll have more time to actually find the helmet itself. Besides, if I know anything about Halcandran architecture, I know that they put hidden escape points all around the building. If we find one, we'll be able to leave."

Bandana sighed. "Yeah, that's a relief to know, but I've just been in here for way longer than I intended to ever be. I'm tired of all this stone!"

"Fair enough," Galacta responded.

Hata looked over at Kaboe. "Okay! Now's a good time! Hand me that helmet!" Handing it over, Kaboe frowned. "What exactly are you going to do?"

Hata extended their claw arm and took the helmet. They began swinging the arm back and forth to build up momentum, until at the peak of their swing, they released the helmet and sent it flying. "HUP!" They rushed back behind a corner to hide, Kaboe quickly following.

"I told you to be careful!" Kaboe hissed as the helmet landed right in front of a stunned Bandana Dee. Bandana picked up the helmet. "What.. What just happened? Where did this come from?" He looked at it more closely. "Hey! I think this is exactly what we're looking for! Talk about a stroke of luck!"

Galacta nodded. "Yes, but not just one stroke of luck, but two! The symbol on this wall indicates an exit!" He looked at the helmet in Bandana's hands. "Actually, that's both lucky and strange. The helmet just... fell out of nowhere? And it just happened to be the one you were looking for? That's oddly suspicious. Perhaps it has something to do with the feeling that I've been veing watched all day..." He shook his head. "Anyway, all I have to do is cast a lighting spell on this stone, and a passage up to the roof of the pyramid should open up. We should be out soon."

Bandana's eyes shone. "Great! I can't wait to get out of here!"

Galacta raised Univou, and the flame on its tip was extinguished, as were all the other flames that led up to them. Then, there was a bright flash of electricity, and for a split second, the entire area was illuminated in a harsh white light. The glow died down, as did the afterimage in their eyes, and the sound of stone scraping against stone could be heard. A chute opened up in the ceiling, and a ray of evening sun poured through it.

"Well, there we go, then." Galacta picked up Bandana Dee, and began to flap his wings. They soared up the opening, and were soon out of the pyramid. Galacta adjusted his course and flew down the side of the pyramid towards the ground. He put down Bandana Dee, who was still holding the helmet.

"Ahh, to feel the sun again! Thank you so much for helping me out, Galacta. I really couldn't have gotten this without you. Well, I mean, it did just fall out of nowhere, so maybe I could have, but also if you weren't there I'd be crushed by a boulder... eh, whatever. Thank you." Bandana said.

Galacta nodded. "It's not a problem. It was nice to be able to help someone out a bit."

"That's really nice of you. Anyway, I have to go deliver this to Castle Dedede, so I'll be going now! Bye!" Bandana Dee walked out into the forest surrounding a part of the ruins.

As soon as Bandana Dee had gone, Galacta turned around. "I don't know who you are or why you've been following me all day, but you can come out now. There's no point in hiding." He waited a few moments, and Kaboe and Hata came out from behind a corner of the pyramid.

Kaboe put her hands up. "Alright, you caught us. If you're going to kill us now, do it quick."

Galacta blinked. "Kill you? No, I was just going to ask you why you were following me. And also, to thank you for finding the helmet for Bandana. That was you two, right?

Hata nodded. "Yep! I was the one who threw it, and Kaboe was the one who actually found it."

Kaboe nudged him. "Don't tell him my name, idiot!" she hissed quietly.

"Well then, I thank both of you," said Galacta, ignoring their squabble. "Now, I need to know. Why were you following me?"

Kaboe and Hata looked at each other. "Um, well, we had, uh, heard that-" began Kaboe.

"Meta Knight sent us to spy on you," Hata cut in. "If you don't kill us, I'll give you some of the cash I earn."

Kaboe just looked at Hata in shock.

"I'm not going to kill you. I don't need any money from you, either. I just wanted to know who you were to make sure... well, anyway, I'm not going to stop you from continuing to spy on me. It is your job, after all, and you have no control over that." Galacta Knight spread his wings and flew off in the direction of Cookie Country.

Kaboe and Hata watched him take off, and Hata turned to their partner.

"How about we don't report this bit to Meta Knight?"

"Yeah."

\-----

Bandana Dee ran into Castle Dedede. He had to travel a long way to get back there, and it certainly wasn't easy carrying the helmet, but he had finally arrived. He took the familiar twisting path to the throne room, where he found Dedede himself.

"King Dedede! I've returned with what you wanted!"

Dedede looked down at his servant. "Great! So what'd you find out? I'm gettin real sick an' tired of all this possession."

Bandana Dee's eyes gleamed. "Well, first I found a clue about the helmet, and then, get this, I found the helmet itself!" He pulled out the eye-marked helmet.

Dedede jumped a bit. "Whoa! That helmet looks like that ol' whazzit Zero! Well, it was Zero's cronies who kept possessin' me, so I reckon that's gotta be it." He shuddered at the memory. "Now then, hand it over!"

Bandana Dee walked up to the king's throne to give him the helmet. "Well, actually, I couldn't have ever found it without-"

Dedede interrupted him. "Oh right! A day ago, this new guy appeared in Dreamland. Befriended Kirby. Kirby brought him over to say hi, but later, Meta Knight told me this guy was a real nasty piece o' work. Destroyer of worlds an' all that. You should watch out. Kirby said his name was... what was it? Oh yeah! It was Galacta Knight! You'd better watch out for him, Bandana."

Bandana Dee's blood ran cold as he recalled the events of the day. "Are you sure?"

Dedede nodded. "Yep. Sure as, uh, something that's really sure? Yeah. You get what I'm sayin'."

Bandana Dee sighed. "Well then, I have a lot to tell you..."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was longer than the last two by around 1000 words. Nice. I've also gotten quite a lot faster at writing since like a week ago. Double nice.


	4. Missing Miracles

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kirby and Galacta help Taranza rebuild his plant nursery. Kirby finds an old friend, but an old enemy as well.

_Galacta Knight was at his limit. His magic had been sealed away, his armor destroyed, and worst of all, he couldn't find Univou. He kicked out, hitting his assailant in the face, as one last desperate attempt for survival. To his horror, his attacker got right back up as if he had done nothing. Helplessly, he watched as they raised their weapon, prepearing for an attack, and-_

"WAKE UP!" A ridiculously loud yell jolted Galacta out of his nightmare. Galacta looked around, terrified, but relaxed when he realized it was all a dream. Kirby was holding a microphone stand and rubbing the side of his face. "You kick really hard! It's a good thing you weren't wearing those metal shoes to sleep."

Galacta blinked as the ringing in his ears faded. "I apologize for kicking you in the face," he mumbled drowsily as Kirby put the mic stand into a closet.

"It's fine, don't worry about it! Did you have a nightmare or something?" Seeing Galacta's nod, Kirby closed his eyes. "I had nightmares too when I first came to Dreamland. But they stopped after a little bit, thanks to the magic of the Fountain of Dreams! Yours'll be gone soon too."

Sitting up on the spare mattress, Galacta looked down. His mask, shield, and Univou were all lying next to him. "That's reassuring to know. Did I wake you up with my thrashing?"

Kirby tilted his head. "Actually, I was already awake. Besides, even if you did, I'd just be glad I was able to help you out! Besides, it is good to get an earlier start on the day sometimes, right?"

"I suppose so," said Galacta, shaking off the rest of his drowsiness as he put his mask on. He stopped about halfway through when he realized it was still dark outside. "I thought Dreamlanders got up quite a bit later than this?"

Kirby nodded. "I'd usually never even dream of getting up this early! But Albert, the mail burt, came along with a special letter! I was just about to read it when you started flailing everywhere! Here, let's read it together." Kirby opened up a green envelope with a shiny gold wax seal marked with a spiderweb. The letter inside had ornate, loopy handwriting. "Let's see... here we go!" He began to read it out loud.

_Dear Kirby,_

_I am in dire need of your assistance. As a reformed person, I had taken up arbory to maintain the ecology of Floralia. To do so, I had built a seedling nursery for many rare and endangered plants, but it has been destroyed by an unknown vandal! Without my nursery, I cannot contribute to the world in any positive way at all! I hate to bother you like this, Kirby, but would you mind helping me repair my seedling nursery?_

_Signed, Taranza of Floralia_

Kirby looked over the letter to make sure he had read everything correctly, then turned to Galacta. "Well, looks like we're going to Floralia! I mean, unless you had other plans."

"I don't," Galacta confirmed.

"Great! Then, we'll leave when the sun rises."

\-----

Kirby watched as light began to spill over the horizon, signaling that it was now morning. He opened the door, the Warp Star already waiting for him. He hopped on, Galacta following suit, and began to ascend towards the sky. In the distance, Galacta could see a tall, vinelike plant reaching into the sky and wrap around various islands that were floating in midair.

"The Dreamstalk," Kirby explained. Galacta nodded silently. "The People of the Sky threw down a seed a few years ago, and it grew into that big plant. They were looking for a hero of the lower world to come save them from their evil queen! I think they were talking about me, but Taranza, who used to be her servant, thought Dedede was the hero and kidnapped him instead! I ended up saving the day, of course." Kirby puffed out with pride. "The Dreamstalk connects Floralia and Dreamland."

Galacta looked at the floating islands that made up Floralia, and frowned. "Wait, wasn't Taranza the one who wrote you that letter? If he kidnapped Dedede, wouldn't that make you enemies?"

"He was under some sort of magic spell from the queen, Sectonia," Kirby told him. "He broke out from the spell at the last moment and helped us! We're friends now."

Galacta, not breaking his gaze from the islands, sighed. "That must have been quite a trial."

Kirby nodded, and they continued upwards.

\-----

After about a minute of flying, they had reached Fine Fields, the first island of Floralia. Kirby flew the Warp Star towards it, flying across meadows filled with grass and flowers. Soon, they came across a destroyed building and descended towards it. When they reached the ground, the two of them hopped off the Warp Star. Kirby began looking around for Taranza, and not long after, found him desperately trying to piece together some wood that had shattered.

"Hi, Taranza! You needed some help?" Kirby waved at the six-handed floating spider-person.

Taranza turned around. "Oh, Kirby! Thank you so much for coming, I'm so glad you're here!" He saw Galacta Knight behind Kirby, and his face went pale. "Kirby... don't look now, but there's a fully armed warrior behind you," he whispered.

Kirby smiled. "Yup! That's my new friend, Galacta Knight! He's gonna help too!"

Taranza nodded, swallowing. "I see." He levitated over to Galacta Knight. "Nice to meet you. As you may have inferred, I am Taranza. This is, or was, my seedling nursery." He gestured at the ruined building.

Galacta winced. The nursery had been so completely destroyed that it seemed that any sort of recovery was beyond the realm of possibility. It would have to be rebuilt entirely. "What happened to cause this much damage? There's no way this incident was a natural occurence.

Taranza shrugged. "I wish I knew," he sighed. "It's just as much of a mystery to me as it is to you.

Kirby motioned towards himself confidently. "I'm sure I can help rebuild this! All I need to do is find the right copy ability to do the job!" He paused. "But what ability would help me build things?

Taranza frowned. "Perhaps we can try to give you a carpenter ability? How about if you ate some of this wood from the building? Wait, no, I've got it!" He pulled a nail out of the wreckage. "Try eating this!"

Kirby took the nail. "Well, let's see what ability I get!" He threw the nail above him, and with a rush of air vaccuming towards his mouth as he inhaled, Kirby ate it. The top of his head glowed, and a hat appeared. The hat was pink, with many yellow spikes poking out from it. Kirby looked up at it, and shook his head. "Nope. This is the needle ability. This won't help."

Taranza looked disappointed. "I suppose we'll have to try something else," he sighed as Kirby discarded the needle ability. "Would you happen to have any ideas? Since you're the copy expert and everything.

Kirby looked down thoughtfully. "Well, I have been trying to come up with-" His words were cut off by the shifting of wood from the ruined nursery. A dark-colored blob emerged from the pile, and opened one eye, then another. The blob opened its mouth, and a long tongue emerged. The creature looked around wildly, but relaxed when its eyes found Kirby.

"Kirby! It's been such a long time since I last saw you!" The blob bounced towards Kirby, smiling. 

"Gooey?! Is that you? What are you doing here?" Kirby hugged his old friend, jumping up and down.

Galacta looked at Taranza. "Do you have any idea what's going on here?" he whispered from the side of his mouth. Taranza shook his head.

Gooey looked around. "Where is this, anyway? Who are those guys?" Using his tongue, he scratched his head.

"This is Floralia," Kirby told him. "And those guys are Taranza and Galacta! We're all friends!"

Taranza looked at Gooey nervously. "Why were you in the nursery? What were you doing there? Were you the one who destroyed it?"

Gooey blinked in confusion. "Huh? Actually, yeah, what am I doing here? I just woke up here." He smiled. "Well, whatever! It probably doesn't matter!

Taranza shook his head. "Well, I suppose if you're friends with Kirby, it's fine. It's a pleasure to meet you, Gooey."

Gooey extended his tongue and used it to shake one of Taranza's hands. He then turned to Galacta, who backed away quickly. "That's fine. You don't need to shake my hand."

Gooey frowned. "Well, okay then." He turned back to Kirby. "What are you doing, anyway? Can I help?"

Taranza motioned to the pile of broken wood Gooey had emerged from. "This used to be my seedling nursery, but it was destroyed. We are attempting to rebuild it."

Gooey jumped. "Whoa! That's a lot of damage!" He thought for a moment. "Well, this stuff won't be useful, so what if you cleared it out first? Kirby or I can use the Clean copy ability!"

"You can use copy abilities as well? Intriguing," Galacta noted. "What do you need to trigger the Clean ability?"

Still smiling, Gooey looked around. "Well, something for cleaning, I guess? How about a broom?"

Taranza clapped his hands together. "Ooh, yes! I'm sure there were some brooms inside the nursery! Perhaps you can use those, if they're not demolished with the rest of the building, anyway."

Gooey dove into the wreckage, rustled around a bit, and came out with two slightly bent brooms. "Found em!" he mumbled, tongue around the brooms. He threw one of the brooms to Kirby, who quickly inhaled it, and pulled the other into his mouth. The two of them manifested white-and-green bandannas around their heads, as well as two brooms in perfect condition.

"Perfect!" laughed Kirby. "Now, let's get cleaning!"

\-----

Not after long, the useless wood had been cleared away. Kirby and Gooey had done most of the heavy lifting, but Galacta and Taranza helped where they could as well. Various seeds and plants were scattered over the building's foundation, as well as many tools for gardening- mostly broken ones. A few empty paint buckets sat forlornly in a corner.

"Well, we've cleaned away all the debris, but how're we gonna rebuild the thing?" Kirby surveyed the area, keeping an eye out for anything that could help him. He then saw the empty paint buckets. "Bingo!" He dashed over, discarding the Clean ability, and inhaled one of the paint cans. A backwards snapback manifested on his head, but Kirby concentrated, and the hat morphed into a red beret with a star pin on it. A large paintbrush appeared in his hand. "Artist Kirby!"

Taranza frowned. "How would this ability let you create a building?"

Kirby chuckled, proud of himself. "Well, this is an alteration of the Paint ability I've been trying to come up with. With this, I should be able to make stuff out of marble, and that includes buildings!"

"That seems a bit fancy for a nursery, but if you can really pull it off, I'll be incredibly thankful!" Taranza smiled.

"All right then!" Kirby pulled an enormous block of marble from thin air, and began chiseling away at it with the handle of his paintbrush. "Gooey! Since you still have the clean ability, can you organize those seeds?" 

With a smile, Gooey nodded. "On it!" 

\-----

After hours of diligent work, the four of them had rebuilt the nursery. Four tall marble pillars stood at each corner, and both the roof and the walls were made of thin criss-crossing slabs of marble to allow light in. Inside, seeds and seedlings were organized atop many counters. The seedling nursery was standing tall, greater than it had ever been.

"It's perfect!" Taranza beamed at the newly-made structure. "Thank you all so much for doing this! I've got no idea how I can repay you all!"

Galacta chuckled. "Well, you don't have-"

"Give us food!" Gooey cut into Galacta's statement.

Taranza laughed. "Actually, I just thought of something I might be able to give you. Wait here!" He felt around on the floor of the building, until he found a thin, almost unnoticeable crack on the floor. He grabbed its edge, and with a heave, pulled up an entire square of the stone. Kirby, Galacta, and Gooey watched with fascination as Taranza descended down a hidden passageway in the floor. The fascination soon turned to concern, as a sharp cry came echoing out.

"Gone! They're gone! I can't believe this!" Taranza's voice emanated from the hole, and after a few seconds, Taranza came back out of the hidden basement and replaced the stone slab.

"What's gone?" Gooey asked. "Was it food? Maybe you already ate it all!"

Taranza shook his head. "It was something much more important than that. That was my hidden basement, where I keep the Miracle Seeds. When grown in the right conditions, the Miracle Seeds can grow into Miracle Vines that produce Miracle Fruit. I kept them hidden away because the Miracle Fruits are powerful, and can be dangerous in the wrong hands, but... they're gone. Vanished."

Kirby patted his back. "I'm sure we can get them back!"

"How are we supposed to do that," Taranza sighed, "We don't have any clues on where they could have gone at all. I haven't opened up that cellar in months. There's no telling when they disappeared, much less where!"

Gooey spoke up. "Were they big, round, and gold colored?"

Taranza nodded. "How did you know?"

"I saw a purple blob thing flying away last night, right after I woke up in the broken building. I passed out right after, but I think it had the seeds with it in a bag."

Taranza's eyes widened. "Did you see which way it went?"

Gooey nodded, and pointed up with his tongue towards the next island of Floralia, Lollipop Land. "It went that way! We should go find it, and ask it to give the seeds back!"

"It would be great if that were possible, but if this was during the night, there's no telling where it is by now... we'd never be able to find it." Taranza shook his head.

"You're forgetting something, Taranza!" With his paintbrush, Kirby pointed upwards. "You've got us at your back!" With a swish, he pointed at the Warp Star. "With my Warp Star, we'll be able to catch up really fast!"

"I'll help however I may be able to as well," added Galacta.

Taranza looked at the Warp Star, and nodded. "I think I feel a bit more confident about this. Thank you, Kirby, all of you."

Kirby smiled. "Don't worry about it! A good deed is its own reward!"

The four of them hopped on the Warp Star, and began flying towards the next island.

\-----

It had taken barely two minutes to breach the distance between the islands, and they had arrived at Lollipop Land. Kirby changed the Warp Star's path to fly along the ground of the island.

"Wow! It looks like everything is made of candy!" Gooey exclaimed. "This is so cool!"

Taranza nodded. "Yes, the soft moss that grows here has that effect. It's very colorfully diverse."

Gooey continued to look around in wonder when he saw something. "Hey! There's something purple over there! Maybe it's the blob that took the seeds!"

Galacta searched for what Gooey was looking at, when he too saw a patch of something purple in the distance. "Good eye."

"Well, then let's go look!" Kirby altered the Warp Star's course to approach the purple color.

As the four of them approached, it became clear that it was not what they were looking for. "It's just a patch of flowers," Galacta said, disappointed.

Kirby shook his head. "It's not what we're looking for, but this is cool too!" He got off the Warp Star to look at the flowers more closely. "Taranza, you know a lot about plants! What flowers are these?"

Taranza looked down. "They appear to be violet seaflowers, if I'm not mistaken. It's said that they only bloom on dry ground in times of great peace! Recently, they've been everywhere, so feel free to pick one!"

Kirby smiled as he plucked a flower from the dirt. "They're so pretty!" He painted up a bubble around the flower and put it in his mouth for safekeeping.

"...Well, anyway, we should probably get going," said Galacta. "We're already pretty far behind our target."

"Right!" Kirby jumped back on the Warp Star, and they continued looking.

\-----

It took two hours before they finally found the culprit.

"There! The blob thing!" Gooey shouted out. The offending blob turned towards the four of them, and sped off toward the edge of the island, the bag full of Miracle Seeds fluttering behind it. Kirby turned the Warp Star to follow it, and the chase began. The blob of purple gunk zigzagged between candy-striped pillars away from its pursuers. The Warp Star followed close behind, just as agile and quite a bit faster. The ground below them disappeared, and the chase went on in empty sky. Only then did the blob give up its flight, and turned around to attack. Dark orbs of magic energy formed around it, and they flew at the Warp Star.

"Ack!" Kirby wove the Warp Star between the orbs, trying to avoid them with limited success. One of the projectiles hit the Warp Star at the bottom, causing it to spin wildly. Somehow, all of its passengers managed to hold on.

"It's attacking!" called Galacta Knight. "I'll try to get the seeds!" He flew off the Warp Star, swinging Univou at the blob. The blob summoned another blast of dark energy, shooting it at Univou to send the attack off course. Galacta recoiled from the blow, but quickly righted himself in the air.

 _Watch out, Galacta._ Univou warned. _That was some major dark magic. I don't think I've ever seen such malevolent energy in all my time in battle._

Galacta looked at the blob. "So much for nothing dangerous being on Popstar," he sighed as he cut another blast in half.

Gooey squinted at the magic blasts the orb was using. He was sure he recognized them from _somewhere_ , but he wasn't sure where.

"Hey, doesn't this seem kind of familiar to you?" Kirby asked him. Gooey nodded, trying to remember what it was that called out to him.

Galacta was having trouble getting a hit in on the blob. Between its erratic movements and its magical projectiles, it was a difficult opponent. Had it been anyone but a seasoned warrior fighting it, they would be eradicated. Galacta dodged another blast and thrusted Univou at the blob. The blob flew backwards, and the bag holding the Miracle Seeds fell. Galacta swooped towards it, but a second blob teleported in and grabbed the bag before teleporting away again, leaving behind an afterimage.

"It's over there!" Kirby flung some paint in the direction the blob had reappeared from, and Galacta flew towards it. He began to swing Univou towards it, but it teleported away again before he could hit it. With a grumble, he prepared a fire spell.

 _Wait, Galacta_ , Univou told him. _If you use a spell on it, the seeds may be damaged as well. You'll have to continue attacking normally._

With an annoyed huff, Galacta continued his assault.

"Don't worry, Galacta, we'll help!" Kirby guided the Warp Star towards him, but the first blob flew back up to block their path. Kirby flicked a bullet of paint at it, but it sent a blast of dark magic through the paint, dissolving it, and attacking the Warp Star as well. The Warp Star spun around once more, and its three passengers were flung off. The Artist and Clean copy essences were forced out of Kirby and Gooey. Taranza quickly regained balance and Kirby inhaled some air to float, but Gooey continued falling with no method of flight. With a flick of his hands, Taranza extended threads out towards Gooey to catch him, and with another flick, pulled him back up.

"Thank you, Taranza!" Gooey said.

Taranza nodded. "You're welcome. Now then, how are we going to get past this?"

Kirby, who had gotten back on the Warp Star, flew down, and the two got back on. "If I still had the Artist ability, I would be able to fight it, but it's gone now."

Taranza blinked. "I've seen you fight without a copy ability before, where you just inhale your opponent's attacks and spit them back. Why can't you just do that?"

Kirby dodged another projectile. "It's difficult to do that in midair, and I don't think I can inhale these magic blasts, either. I need a copy ability for this!"

Taranza looked around. They were in midair, and it didn't seem like there was anything Kirby could inhale nearby. "What could you use to gain an ability? Do either of you have any ideas?"

Gooey thought about it for a moment. "Hmm... Oh! Hey Kirby, do you still have that flower you picked earlier?"

Kirby's eyes widened. "Oh yeah! I forgot about that!" He opened his mouth and spit out the bubble containing the flower. "It's too bad I have to eat this. It's so pretty."

Taranza shook his head. "There are plenty of them growing around. We can just go pick another once we're done here."

Kirby nodded. "Right." He tapped the bubble, popping it, and inhaled the violet flower. A crown of leaves manifested on his head. "Leaf Kirby!"

Using his copy ability, Kirby summoned a tornado of leaves and sent them at the blob. It tried to dodge the leaves, but there were so many that such an endeavor was borderline impossible. The blob was bombarded, and Kirby used the opportunity to start flying towards Galacta. A dark glow emanated from the blob, and it began to change shape. The tornado of leaves was destroyed, each leaf disentigrating into dust. A cape manifested on the blob, which was now black as night. A sword glowing with all the colors of the rainbow appeared next to it. The blob had transformed into an old enemy- Dark Matter Swordsman. He flew in front of the Warp Star, blocking their path once more.

"Dark Matter Swordsman!? I thought I beat him ages ago!" Kirby cried out. He spun the Warp Star around to avoid an energy blast, and sent out another tornado of leaves. This time, the attack was less effective, as the dark creature waved his sword around quickly, burning each leaf with its rainbow aura.

Gooey was annoyed. He wanted to get the seeds back, but the swordsman was stopping them from going and helping Galacta. Not only that, but the swordsman was attacking him, a fellow being of Dark Matter! He wasn't surprised by it, considering how most of the rest of his species lacked any moral compass at all, just annoyed. Gooey looked around Kirby's battle to where Galacta was fighting the other purple blob. The blob was only teleporting away from Galacta's attacks, playing a game of keep-away with the golden Miracle Seeds. He inspected the bag they were in, and thought of an idea. "Hey, Taranza."

"Hmm?" Taranza had been focused on the fight between Kirby and Dark Matter Swordsman. "What is it?"

Gooey motioned towards the blob. "You think you can throw me into the bag over there?"

Taranza blinked. "Pardon?"

"Earlier, when you grabbed me with those strings, you pulled me up really quickly! I bet you could throw me pretty well too. If you threw me into the bag, I might be able to get the seeds."

Taranza looked towards the bag, then back at Gooey. He nodded. "It'll be difficult, since it's teleporting so much, but I think I can do that."

"Great!" said Gooey. "You should probably attach a string to me so you can pull me back out."

With a grin, Taranza attached his threads to Gooey. "This works out well, actually. My threads are magic, so they're very precise." He got off the Warp Star to position himself and lobbed Gooey out past Kirby's fight. Gooey sailed from Taranza's hand directly into the seed satchel. The purple blob felt the extra weight in its bag and immediately shook Gooey out, and Taranza pulled him back with his threads.

"No good, huh?" Taranza sighed.

Gooey didn't respond.

Kirby was having trouble fighting Dark Matter Swordsman. Usually, tornadoes of sharp, swirling leaves were pretty effective, but the swordsman simply sliced each leaf apart in a flurry of slashes. Kirby would have to change his tactics or risk defeat. He ascended with the Warp Star, sending another leaf tornado at Dark Matter Swordsman to keep him occupied. The tornado had the same effect as the previous ones, being destroyed effortlessly. However, a stray leaf that had gone too far out of the tornado had avoided its fate, and struck the swordsman on its way back.The leaf was destroyed right after, but it had not gone unnoticed by Kirby. He increased the size of his next tornado, and made the paths of each leaf much more erratic. Quite a few more leaves hit Dark Matter Swordsman before being destroyed, dealing small amounts of damage individually, but still chipping away at his defenses. "Not much to go!"

Galacta Knight was having a much harder time with his endeavor. Had it been a battle, he would have won within only a few minutes, but he had to restrain himself as to not harm the Miracle Seeds. Gooey being thrown into the bag a while back had served as a brief distraction, but too brief for Galacta to take advantage of. "I'd never have expected to end up trying to take magic seeds from a teleporting blob today."

Univou laughed. _Yes, it isn't what most people think of when they first get up in the morning, is it?_

Kirby landed a few more tornadoes of leaves on Dark Matter Swordsman. His opponent was looking more and more weary, and Kirby had the upper hand with mobility. He flew in for the final blow, and flew the Warp Star directly into Dark Matter Swordsman. He raised his sword, but Kirby was ready. A vine sprouted from the Warp Star at an incredible speed, smacking the swordsman away. Dark Matter Swordsman began to fall, and let out a terrifying shriek that could be heard miles away. The other blob with the Miracle Seeds teleported over to its comrade, and with a warbled laugh, teleported itself and the swordsman away. Kirby looked around, but the two of them were nowhere to be seen.

Galacta flew back to the Warp Star. "Well, I can't believe how little I actually helped there."

Taranza shook his head. "You kept the one with the seeds occupied. It would have been able to prepare a much longer teleport if you weren't keeping it occupied." He paused. "But I can't shake the feeling that I recognized that laugh somehow..."

Galacta sighed. "It's just a shame that we didn't manage to get any Miracle Seeds back..."

Gooey looked like he wanted to say something, but stayed silent.

"Well, let's get back, then. There's no point in staying here any longer. C'mon Kirby, you can go pick another seaflower," Taranza said.

Kirby smiled. "Right!"

\-----

Kirby searched far and wide for the violet seaflowers, but couldn't find a single one.

"That's strange," commented Taranza. "Just earlier, they were everywhere."

Kirby sighed. "That's too bad. It was really pretty."

They left Lollipop Land on the Warp Star, and as they were leaving, Galacta noticed a patch of dead, wilted flowers. They were brown and dry, and Galacta didn't know much about plants, but he had a sneaking suspicion that he knew exactly what they were.

As they flew back down to Fine Fields, Kirby's stomach rumbled. "Hey! I just realized I haven't eaten anything since really early this morning!

"And now that I think of it, I haven't eaten anything all day," Galacta added.

Kirby stared at him in shock. "How are you even functioning right now?"

Galacta shrugged. "If you think about it, I technically went eons without eating anything at all, so perhaps a day without food is nothing to me."

"Once, I ate nothing but an energy radish for three days as an experiment," added Taranza.

Kirby shook his head. "You guys have no common sense, like at all. You gotta eat!"

Galacta's stomach growled as well, and they laughed.

\-----

When they returned to the seedling nursery, the four of them hopped off the Warp Star. Immediately, Gooey opened his mouth and spat out four Miracle Seeds. "I managed to get these while I was in that bag! I couldn't say anything about it though, since my mouth was full." A proud smile stretched across his face.

"Wow! Thank you so much, Gooey!" Taranza picked Gooey up, and threw him into the air in congratulations. "I don't know how I'll be able to thank you all!"

Galacta smiled. "I'm glad we got these back for you." His face grew serious. "But these weren't all of them, correct?"

Gooey shook his head. "There wasn't enough time to get all of them."

"Right then." Galacta picked up one of the seeds, ignoring the saliva coating it. "If the Miracle Fruits are as powerful as you say, we could be in for some serious danger."

"I wonder what was up with those guys, though," Gooey pondered. "Wasn't the guy with the sword Dark Matter Swordsman? I thought Kirby beat him years ago!"

Kirby nodded. "And it looked like he had the Rainbow Sword, too, which shouldn't be possible! I used it to defeat him, and it shouldn't be able to manifest for another hundred years or so!" He thought to himself. "Actually, I just remembered something. Back when Popstar got invaded by Haltmann, they cloned Dedede, and that clone grew from a bunch of purple goop as well! Maybe these are clones too!"

Galacta looked from Gooey to Kirby. He turned to Taranza. "Now I just wish that I had come to Popstar earlier, if only to have some context for what's going on."

Taranza shook his head. "I have no idea what sort of things they consider normal either, and I've been living above Popstar my whole life."

Gooey thought to himself. "Wait... if they're clones, who was the teleporting one a clone of?" He looked into the distance. "Well, whatever! No point making guesses about it!"

Taranza grabbed two of the Miracle Seeds. "I'd like to thank you for not only helping me rebuild my nursery, but for going out of your way to help me get these seeds back. It truly means the world to me. As a gift of repayment, I'd like you each to take a single Miracle Seed, and grow it into a fine plant." He handed a seed to Kirby and Gooey each, who took them. Galacta looked at the seed he was already holding.

"Are you sure you really want to give this to me?" Galacta asked.

Taranza nodded. "It's not much compared to all you've done to help, but you deserve repayment."

Kirby's stomach growled again. "I'm really overdue for lunch, so I'm gonna go home now! Galacta, Gooey, you guys should get on the Warp Star too."

Gooey looked back towards the nursery. "Actually, I think I want to stay here, in Floralia. It's really pretty and nice here, and I like it a lot!"

"Okay then," Kirby said. "In that case, bye! See you again!" Kirby and Galacta jumped back onto the Warp Star, said their farewells to Taranza and Gooey, and descended back to Dreamland.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You know how Dark Matter Clone only gets summoned and defeated in Meta Knightmare Returns and the True Arena? And how both of those have been confirmed by HAL Labratories as non-canon "what if" scenarios? The clones had to have existed beforehand, but they weren't defeated in the main timeline. +10 bonus points to your next exam if you can figure out who the other clone is. >:3c


	5. Darkness Overhead

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Various things that are mostly unimportant happen.

Albert watched the sunset as he flew to his next delivery stop, high in the sky-- the battleship Halberd. As he pulled a box from his bag, a UFO carrying a Bio Spark with a large, voluminous scarf whipped past him and entered the airship. He stared at the space they had been for a second, then shook his head and returned to delivering the mail. 

When they got inside, Hata put down Kaboe and the two of them rushed towards Meta Knight's quarters. Once they arrived, Kaboe knocked lightly on the door. A few seconds later, Meta Knight opened the door. 

"What is it?" he asked. Seeing the frantic expressions on his underlings' faces, he sighed. "Since you're both here, I assume you need to tell me something that cannot be said over the radio." He walked out into the hallway and closed the door to his quarters. "Come, follow me." 

Kaboe and Hata trailed behind Meta Knight as he led them to one of the many soundproof interrogation rooms. A small waddle dee that Kaboe vaguely recognized watched them as they passed, but  turned away when Kaboe met his gaze. The three of them stopped in front of a metal door, which Meta Knight unlocked. They went inside, and Meta Knight closed the door behind them. "You won't be heard by anyone outside this room here. Tell me what happened." 

Kaboe pulled a folder full of photos from her scarf. "Today, Kirby and Galacta went up to Floralia. They helped someone named Taranza rebuild a building of some sort, and then they tracked down the creatures that, I assume, were the ones that destroyed the building in the first place. They also stole some big gold seeds from the building." 

Taking the folder, Meta Knight raised an eyebrow, although the expression was hidden by his mask. "And how is this especially sensitive information?" 

Hata absentmindedly did a flip in midair. "The four of them-- actually this blob dude joined in a bit after they got to Floralia--ended up fighting with these creature things. And you know how you said Galacta Knight had a planet-destroying level of strength, yeah? Well, even he was having trouble fighting the things." 

Meta Knight opened the folder of images as he listened to Hata's explanation. When he finally saw the photos, his eyes widened. "You were right to tell me about this. These purple balls of goop are a form of Haltmann Works Company's clones. Not only that, but this one," he pointed to Dark Matter Swordsman, "Is an old foe that Kirby had fought years and years ago. I wasn't there, but this creature was the one who marked the arrival of a highly malevolent force, attempting to cover the universe with sorrow and suffering. This photo marks the return of Dark Matter. Or, Dark Matter Swordsman at least." 

Kaboe shuddered. "Even the name itself sounds evil." 

"Eh, kinda cliche sounding in my opinion," voiced Hata. 

Ignoring Hata, Kaboe pointed to the other blob. "Do you think this one is also Dark Matter?" 

Meta Knight shrugged. "Possibly. I don't know what the internal plans of that dastardly company was, but whatever it is, it can't be good. Anyhow, I will send someone to ask about it." 

Hata frowned. "Ask who?" 

Meta Knight turned to the wall with an air of disgust. "Susie, the old secretary of Haltmann Works, of course. Unfortunately, she is the only one who knows any of their internal plans. Anyway, you are both dismissed." 

After the two spies left, closing the door behind them, Meta Knight took a remote out from his cape. He entered a combination of numbers, then pressed a button labeled with a picture of King Dedede's face. 

"Hello, Dedede. Are you there?" 

The distorted sound of a walkie talkie being picked up buzzed through a small speaker in Meta Knight's mask. "Yep, sure am. Whaddya need, Meta?" 

Putting away the remote, Meta Knight spoke once more into the microphone on the inside of his mask. "I have a warning for you. According to my sources, Dark Matter may have returned. I know about your track record with--" 

Meta Knight was cut off by a slow chuckle from Dedede. "Well, ain't that just a neat coinkydink! Just a few days ago, I got meself a nice helmet to protect myself from possesion. That's one thing neither of us gotta worry about." 

Meta Knight relaxed. "I see. It's a relief to know you won't be a victim again." 

At the other end of the conversation, Dedede grinned. "Being mind controlled five separate times is more than enough for me." 

\----- 

The next morning, or noon perhaps, Kirby woke up with a smile on his face. He turned to say good morning to Galacta, but to his surprise, no one was there. Instead, there was a piece of paper with neat handwriting on it. 

_If you're wondering where I am, I'm out exploring. If I wish to call this place home, I must familiarize myself with it. If you need me for anything, just yell for me. I'll probably hear it.  
-Galacta _

"Well, okay then." Kirby tapped his foot on the floor. "What should I do today, then? Oh yeah! I'll go hang out with Bandana!" He dashed out the door. 

\----- 

"Stupid thing," Susie muttered to herself as she fixed the bugs in her code. "There's no reason this for loop shouldn't be able to get past the fifth iteration. This is dumb." 

Her thoughts were interupted when she heard knock at the door. She floated over, irritated, and opened it. Outside, there was a smaller than average waddle dee. "What do you need," she grumbled. 

The waddle dee jumped a bit in surprise. "Um, there were these big purple monsters fighting in the sky yesterday. I asked a bunch of people about it, and they said you'd know." 

Susie looked at the waddle dee thoughtfully. "Purple monsters, huh? I might know about that. Were they kind of blobby? Did they transform into anything?" 

The waddle dee nodded. "So you do know about them! What are they? They seem dangerous." 

"If what you're describing is correct, the monsters you saw were clones. I wouldn't worry about them too much. When that pink marshmallow destroyed the mother computer, a whole bunch of them escaped, but most of them are harmless. About ninety-nine percent of them were defective, and the ones that weren't aren't able to survive without being given power by the mother computer. So, don't you worry! None of your insignificant lives are in danger." 

The waddle dee blinked. "What?" 

"I said none of your lives are in danger. Don't worry about it." 

The waddle dee looked at her, a bit relieved. "Thank you for telling me. I feel a lot better knowing I'm safe." 

Susie nodded. "Not a problem. Now then, I'm going to go back to what I was doing." She went back into her house and closed the metal door. 

The waddle dee began to walk away. He'd finished what he needed to do, and now all that was left was to tell Meta Knight what he'd learned. A shadow of a feathery winged creature passed over him, but he gave it no thought. 

\----- 

Galacta Knight passed over a house made entirely of metal, with an astonishingly small waddle dee walking away from it. He looked forward and noticed he had looped all the way around the planet and was flying back towards Cookie Country. He flapped his wings to slow down and hovered in midair, scanning for another place to explore. In the distance, he spotted a jungle he hadn't explored before, and with a flap of his wings, he headed toward it. 

When Galacta got to the jungle, he noticed there was a single path leading inwards that was unobstructed by hanging vines. He began on the trail, looking at Popstar's native wildlife as he did. He made a note to himself to avoid fruit trees, as he didn't know which ones dropped explosive fruits. Luckily, he ran into no arboreal bombs, and he began to enjoy his stroll through the jungle. 

As he walked, he heard a strange burble from off the path. He looked towards the noise and cut away the vines with Univou. On the other side he found a swamp, with air bubbles popping up around the center every few seconds. He peered toward the center, wondering what was making those bubbles. 

_Don't you dare do it, Galacta,_ warned Univou. _That swamp is incredibly dirty. You'll have mud stuck in your feathers for days._

Curiosity took over Galacta, and against his better judgement as well as Univou's, he dove into the swamp. The water was murky, and he could barely see anything through all the silt. Univou sighed telepathically. Galacta dove deeper, catching a faint sight of a few air bubbles, and swam towards them, propelling himself through the muddy water with his wings. He reached out a hand towards the source of the bubbles, and felt a strange box. He swam closer and picked it up. It was heavy, but also strangely buoyant. Galacta swam to the surface with a push of his wings, getting covered by algae in the process, and placed the box on dry land. He took a few seconds to shake the water off himself and rub the mud out of his eyes. _Honestly, Galacta,_ Univou sighed. _I you usually have much better judgement then this._

Galacta smiled beneath his algae-covered mask. "I've been trying to be more adventurous. Kirby told me it builds confidence." 

Univou made a slightly exasperated noise. _I suppose. Anyway, aren't you going to open that chest you took all that effort to get?_

Galacta looked toward the box he picked up, noticing that it was a red chest with gold lining all over it. "Right." He undid the latch, revealing that inside was... mud. He reached a hand into the mud and felt a very soggy piece of paper. He pulled it out of the chest, trying to make out what the faded writing on it said. Soon after, he gave up and used magic to dry off the paper. The paper had pictures of four mice's faces on it, as well as the words, "THE SQUEAK SQUAD WAS HERE!" 

Despite feeling disappointed, Galacta smiled. This planet had so many interesting things hidden away in its nooks and crannies, and even if he would never met the 'Squeak Squad,' it was nice to have a glimpse into the lives of those completely and totally unrelated to him. Galacta spread his waterlogged wings, hoping they'd dry fast, and began his walk back to the trailhead. 

\----- 

Bandana Dee was walking through Dreamland Castle Town, looking for food to buy. Castle Dedede employees were supposed to eat from the castle's pantry, but with the king's snacking habits, there usually wasn't a very wide selection outside of the bare essential foods. He looked around at the various stalls selling all sorts of snacks. Soon, he eyed a vendor selling one of his favorite kinds of cookies. He dashed over. "How much are these?" he asked. 

The broom hatter running the stall pointed to a price card. "Like it says here, that'll be forty shiny stars." 

Bandana pulled the stars from his bandana, and noticed he was three stars short. "Ah. Never mind." 

Bandana turned away from the stall and was about to leave when he heard a familiar voice. "Hey! Bandana! What's up!" Kirby dashed towards him, and Bandana quickly moved out of the way as Kirby jumped in for a full force hug. Kirby got up as if he hadn't just tried to tackle Bandana, and smiled at him. "How're you doing!" 

Bandana smiled. "I'm doing pretty well. Well, actually, I could use some help, though. I'm here to shop for snacks, but I'm three shiny stars short. Do you have any stars on you that I can borrow? I promise I'll pay you back." 

Kirby thought to himself. "Yeah, I think I got some, lemme check." He spat out a bubble that was filled to near bursting with red shiny stars, making nearby vendors turn their head. "Nope, not that one, that one's for big stuff," he muttered to himself as he inhaled the bubble once more. "Here we go!" He spat out three smaller bubbles, each with a single shiny star contained inside. He popped each one, handing them all to Bandana. 

"Thanks, you're a lifesaver," Bandana said, handing the money to the Broom Hatter, who said nothing. He took the box of cookies and handed one to Kirby. "Here, since you helped pay for them, you should have one!" 

Kirby took the cookie happily. "Thank you!" he said, downing it in a single bite. "Now, we should go play somewhere!" 

Bandana smiled, but then he remembered what King Dedede said about Kirby's new friend. "Oh yeah, Kirby? I need to ask you a bunch of questions about... something." 

Kirby nodded. "Okay!" The two of them began to walk towards the edge of town, munching on cookies as they went. 

"So... I heard from King Dedede that you made a new friend," Bandana said casually. 

Kirby nodded. "Yep! He came out of a portal! His name's Galacta Knight. You should meet him, I bet you'll be friends!" 

Bandana laughed nervously. "Actually, I already have met him. He saved me from a rolling boulder when I was looking for a magic helmet in Raisin Ruins." 

"Great! Then my friends are already friends!" Kirby strode onwards. 

Bandana Dee dashed forward, having trouble keeping up with Kirby's pace. "Yeah, he did seem like a really nice person, but... King Dedede told me Sir Meta Knight told him that Galacta Knight was evil." 

"He's wrong," Kirby said firmly. "Galacta told me he wants to live a nice life on Planet Popstar, and his telepathing, glowing weapon also told me it wanted to live on Popstar, and I believe them. Both of them." 

Bandana Dee nodded. "Yeah, he didn't seem like the kind of guy to destroy the world for the fun of it. Maybe Sir Meta Knight just has bad sources." 

Kirby nodded back. "That must be it." 

\----- 

On the lovely, flower-filled planet Floria, one of Popstar's satellites, something was amiss. A magic barrier subconciously dissuaded the planet's inhabitants from venturing too far into its field, and at the center lay a malevolent force. Dark Matter Clone had just finished planting the final Miracle Seed, and shot two yellow orbs at the dirt to make sure it was fully compact. 

"..." The other clone, who had not yet transformed into their true shape, made a buzzing noise. 

"..." Dark Matter Clone grunted back in response. 

"...!" 

Dark Matter Clone nodded. Now, all they had to do was wait. 

\----- 

Magolor was tapping away at the interface of the Lor Starcutter. The four Landias trailed along behind the ship, following the Lor wherever she went. A message popped up on the Lor's chat screen. 

_I'M BOAT?: I've detected some dark energy near the Popstar system. I believe the best course of action would be to visit Popstar in order to purge the evil._

Magolor smiled beneath his scarf, typing his own message. 

_CADBURY CHOCOLATE EGG: im down. any excuse to visit popstar is a good excuse. :)_

_SPIKEY DRAGON: OOO LOR UR RIGHT I JUST CHECKED AND I CAN FEEL IT TOO_

_HONCHO DRAGON: Ha. Hey magolor I bet you won't want to visit popstar after I tell yuo... ONE COOL THING_

_CADBURY CHOCOLATE EGG: i doubt it_

_I'M BOAT?: I'm pretty sure the information that Honcho Landia wanted to convey to you is that the energy feels quite similar to the energy that was emitted by the Master Crown._

_SPIKEY DRAGON: HOW DO I TELEPATHICALLY TURN OFF BIG LETTERS_

_CADBURY CHOCOLATE EGG: ok honcho you win this bet, im sure kirby can handle whatever nasty evil dude that tries to do nasty evil stuff  
CADBURY CHOCOLATE EGG: you can turn em off by pressing the telepathic caps lock button_

_HONCHO DRAGON: Haha... I WIN..._

_SPIKEY DRAGON: thanks_

_I'M BOAT?: Okay, we're going to Popstar anyway. We can't just leave a threat unchecked out of fear. Besides, even if Kirby does defeat it on his own, it'll be so much easier with allies on his side!_

_CADBURY CHOCOLATE EGG: i see i have no say in this_

_BULLET DRAGON: Yeah, basically_

The Lor Starcutter, the four Landias, and an unhappy Magolor all set course to Planet Popstar.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the long hiatus and then the relatively short chapter where not much happens. I just looooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooove to drag things out.


	6. Landia Ahoy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A familiar egg-shaped magic user lands in Dreamland in search for a mysterious dark energy, along with a sentient ship and four dragons who were once one.

Galacta Knight was sitting in a pond, washing flecks of mud out from between his feathers. Despite the fact that it had been several days since he jumped into that swamp, the mud stubbornly refused to leave his wings. Giving up, he spread them out to lie down on the water and float. The sky changed colors as the sun set past the horizon. Suddenly, Galacta heard the familiar sound of space tearing open, and he glanced at Univou. 

_That wasn’t me,_ Univou told him. _Something else created a portal here._

Galacta nodded. “Let’s check it out.” He hopped out of the pond and spread his wings. With a flap, he sprayed droplets of water everywhere, but nothing else really happened. 

“Oh right, wet wings,” he grimaced. With a sigh, he began walking towards the source of the noise. 

\----- 

With a slight bump, the Lor Starcutter landed. “We’ve set down on Popstar!” Magolor called out. He rushed to the window, hoping to get a glimpse of where they had landed on the planet, but to his disappointment, it was dark out. 

Spiky Landia walked up next to him. “You know, it’s funny, but I’ve never actually seen this place close up. For all the stuff that happened here, it’s kinda weird we never came back to explore it.” 

The Lor Starcutter’s telepathic voice hummed out. _It’s not like we’ve forgotten. We’ve simply been busy elsewhere._

Flame Landia nodded. “Yeah! Don’t forget about all those interplanetary crime rings we destroyed from the inside!” 

“You mean the ones you guys made me destroy from the inside,” mumbled Magolor. No one heard him but the Lor, who chose to ignore him. 

_Anyway, it’s nighttime,_ the Lor pointed out. _It may be difficult to search in this light, and I sense a storm approaching._

Honcho Landia nodded. “Best we just wait til tomorrow.” 

As the six space travelers began to settle down for the night, they heard a tap on the side of the Lor. “What’s that noise?” asked Bullet Landia. 

_I’m scanning it..._ responded the Lor. _Scan complete. It appears to be an ancient warrior of some kind, bearing a sentient lance. The warrior has a similar appearance to Meta Knight, but is far older. For some reason, their wings are soaking wet. Here, let me show you._ She turned on her screen, showing an rotating 3D model of Galacta Knight. _Further scans show no sign of hostility, only curiosity and perhaps a bit of wariness._

“Well, if this guy’s not out to gut us like a blipper, I guess we can let em’ in!” Magolor declared. The Lor opened her door obligingly, allowing Galacta to enter. Nobody spoke as he made his way up the ramp. 

“So,” Bullet Landia began, breaking the silence, “Who’re you?” 

Galacta blinked. “My name is Galacta Knight. But more importantly, who are you all? It’s not every day you see a space-bending Halcandran ship land in such a rural part of the galaxy.” 

Magolor floated forward. “My name is Magolor. These four dragons are the Landias.” 

“Feel free to call me Honcho,” said the largest dragon. “The one who spoke to you was Bullet Landia, this one’s Flame Landia, and that one’s Spiky Landia,” they said, pointing their wing to each dragon. 

Galacta looked at all the Landias, taking note of which one was which. “I see...” 

_Don’t worry if you can’t distinguish between them,_ the Lor said, making Galacta jump a little, then relax as he figured out where the voice was coming from. _Other than Honcho, who is marginally larger than the rest of the Landias, they are visually identical.”_

Galacta nodded. “I see. Thank you, telepathic ship.” 

_You can call me the Lor Starcutter. And I believe that the lance has yet to introduce themself?_

_Good eye,_ Univou glowed, broadcasting its thoughts to everyone there. _I am Univou, Galacta’s trusted partner._

“Looks like the sentient ancient artifact counter just went up by one,” Magolor said. 

“Well, you don’t seem like malicious people,” Galacta concluded. “I just came here to check what was up.” He walked back outside, into the slight drizzle that had started. 

_I invite you to stay in here, Galacta. I sense that in but a minute, this rain will become a full-on storm._

Galacta paused outside, looked at the looming clouds above, then walked back into the Lor, wings dripping. “Thanks.” The Lor’s door closed, muffling the sound of the raindrops outside. Galacta paused, looking at the puddle of water that was accumulating at his feet. He pointed Univou at it as he stepped away. Univou’s bright magenta flame swirled into existence, evaporating the water and dissipating into steam. He turned back to the Landias and Magolor. “What are you travelers doing on this planet, anyway?” 

“Well, we’ve detected something important in this star system,” Magolor explained, “And since Popstar is in the center of the system, we decided it would be a good place to start looking.” 

Honcho Landia nodded. “Magolor’s already spent a bit of time on this planet as well, and seems to like it quite a lot. We’re going to start searching tomorrow.” 

Galacta started another fire on Univou and held it up to dry his wings. “I’ve been trying to be more helpful recently, so maybe I can join you in your search?” 

“Yeah, that’d be great!” Magolor responded, clasping his hands together. “It’ll be great to have someone who knows their way around helping!” 

“Oh, actually I’ve only been on this planet for about a week,” Galacta laughed. “Sorry. I’ve been trying to find my way around though, so I guess I can help a bit with that.” 

Magolor blinked. “Well, thank you anyway.” 

Galacta Knight yawned. “Mind if I take a rest for the night in here? I’m feeling kind of tired.” 

_Of course,_ the Lor Starcutter told him. 

Galacta Knight lay on the floor with Univou propped up against his mask, the flame still burning and drying off his wings. 

\----- 

Meta Knight flew out across space. He was sure the Dark Matter clone wouldn’t have stayed on Popstar, especially if its energy source was as limited as Susie implied it to be. He soon landed on the first planet he was searching, Skyhigh. A nearby scarfy started floating towards him, but he dispatched it with a swing of his pronged sword Galaxia before it could come close. 

He flew around Skyhigh for hours, looking for any sign of the clone, for any disturbance at all. When he circled around the entire cloudy planet without finding a single clue, he sighed. _That’s one planet down. Next stop, planet Hotbeat,_ he thought to himself before flying back into space. 

\----- 

The next morning, Galacta Knight woke up to the sound of tapping. He looked around for the source of his noise, taking Univou’s handle and unfurling his now-dry wings. Magolor was at the Lor Starcutter’s control panel, typing away. When he noticed Galacta had awoken, he turned around. “Good morning! The Lor and I were just trying to pinpoint the energy signal we found.” 

Galacta walked up next to him. “So what are you guys looking for, anyway?” 

Magolor shrugged. “I’m not sure exactly what’s emitting the signal, but it’s very similar to a dangerous ancient artifact I had a run in with in the past. For some reason, we can’t find the specific position the signal is coming from, so the Lor’s doing another scan to try and figure out the environment surrounding the thing.” 

“I see.” Galacta frowned. “That’s a pretty roundabout way of finding something, but it seems effective.” 

Magolor nodded. “It’s the last thing we’ve thought of. Oh, looks like the Lor is finished scanning!” 

The Lor Starcutter’s telepathic voice echoed in their minds. _It seems that our target rests in an area full of flowers. That’s all I could glean from my scan. Whatever is emitting that signal is highly cloaked in magic somehow._

Magolor grinned beneath his scarf. “Great! Then we just have to find a place with a ton of flowers! Galacta, you know anywhere like that?” 

Galacta thought to himself. “Flowers, huh...” He went through everywhere he explored on Popstar. “Hmm, there are actually flowers everywhere on Popstar, so... wait! I just remembered the other day, I traveled to a place with the most plant life I’d ever seen. Let’s try looking in the floating islands of Floralia.” 

A door to the side slid open, and out walked Flame. “Morning. Sounds like you’ve found a place to start?” 

Magolor nodded. “Yep. Galacta suggested to go to someplace called Floralia.” 

“Let’s go then! Uh, where is Floralia, anyway?” Flame asked. 

Galacta pointed up. “Floralia is made of islands that float in the sky. They’re connected by a giant plant called the... actually, I forget what it’s called. But we just have to keep an eye out for a giant plant.” 

_Then we shall head off,_ said the Lor Starcutter. _Off to Floralia!_

\----- 

A few minutes later, the Lor landed on Fine Fields. The door opened up, and Galacta stepped out, Univou in hand. After him followed Magolor, then the four Landias. 

“Well, we’re here,” said Magolor, “Now what?” 

“I know someone who’s far more familiar with Floralia than I am. We should find him,” Galacta answered. 

“Well then, lead the way. Some of us should stay here with the Lor, though.” 

Bullet jumped up. “I call not doing that!” 

“All right then,” began Honcho. “Flame, Spike, you two stay here for now.” 

The two dragons agreed, and the rest of them set off to find Taranza. 

\----- 

When they arrived at Taranza’s nursery, they could hear humming coming from inside. Galacta knocked on the door that he himself had cut from marble, and Gooey opened it from inside. “Hello? Oh, you again! Galacta, right?” He noticed the three behind Galacta. “And... an egg! And two dragons!” 

Magolor put his hand to his face. “Why does everyone keep calling me an egg...” 

Honcho stepped forward. “Yes. I am Honcho, the other dragon is Bullet, and this egg is Magolor.” 

Magolor glared at Honcho but said nothing more. 

“Oh, Okay!” responded Gooey. “Nice to meet ya, I’m Gooey! Whaddya need?” 

“We were looking for Taranza,” Galacta told him. “I’m trying to help these guys find something, but I don’t know Floralia too well.” 

“So you want his help! Okay, I’ll go get him!” Gooey slid over to where Taranza was potting seeds in the back. Gooey began talking to him, too far away to hear, and the humming stopped. The two of them walked back to the door. 

“Nice to see you again, Galacta,” Taranza said. “So Gooey told me you need help to find something?” 

Galacta nodded. “Yeah. It would be nice to have someone looking that understands the lay of the land. Of course, if you’re busy, you don’t have to...” 

Taranza shook his head. “No, it’s fine! Besides, I still feel like I owe you for your help the other day.” 

Magolor smiled under his scarf. “Well, then that’s fantastic! Let’s get to searching!” 

\----- 

On the walk to the Lor Starcutter, Magolor informed Taranza and Gooey of their objective. Taranza seemed nervous at the idea that there might be dark energy residing within Floralia. “This isn’t good... it’s only been a few years since Floralia’s last... problem...” He sighed. “Well, all the reason more to find it, I suppose.” 

Magolor’s ear twitched. “Hm? What was the problem before?” 

Taranza looked away. “I’d rather not talk about it.” 

“Ah. Okay then.” Magolor turned back to the path in front of them. “Oh, it look like the Lor is just ahead!” He sped up to meet back up with the ship and the other two dragons. 

“That was fast. What’d I miss?” asked Flame. 

Bullet caught up to Magolor. “Not much,” they told Flame. “We basically just went up to some building, then Galacta asked this blob thing if this other guy would help us out and then they agreed. Oh, here they are now.” Taranza floated toward them, holding Gooey in two of his hands. 

Flame blinked. “Huh.” 

“All right, everyone!” Honcho called. “To maximize efficiency in this search, we should split up into two groups. One group should have Taranza, since he knows his way around, and the other with the Lor, since she has advanced energy detection.” 

Taranza blinked. “You mean the ship?” 

Magolor nodded at him. “Yeah, the Lor Starcutter’s sentient. I can tell you about it.” He raised his voice. “I’ll be going with Taranza!” 

“I’ll go with the Lor, then,” said Galacta. 

“Okay, then Bullet and I can go with Taranza, Magolor, and Gooey, while Flame and Spike go with the Lor, Galacta, and Univou.” 

Galacta shrugged. “Sounds good to me.” 

The two groups each went their separate ways, hoping to find traces of the mysterious energy. 

\----- 

“Anything here?” Magolor sighed as he stuck his head into a bush, only to find nothing but leaves. 

“I doubt you’ll find anything that way,” Honcho told him. “Well, anything we’re looking for, anyway.” 

Magolor shrugged. “Doesn’t hurt to check.” 

“Well, unless the bush you’re looking through is poisonous,” Taranza said. “Then it would hurt. But there’s not many poisonous plants that grow in Floralia, and almost all of them are located on the top island.” 

“Hm.” Magolor stuck his head into another bush. “That’s nice to know-- hey! I found something!” 

The rest of the group whipped their faces toward Magolor. “Really?” asked Gooey. “What’d you find? Tell me! Tell me!” 

Magolor extricated himself from the bush with minor difficulty, a shiny object in his grip. “There we go! Now then, what’s this thing?” He turned the object over in his hand. “Looks like a... gear-shaped charm. And it’s got a small chain coming from it.” 

Bullet looked at it more closely. “Hm. That’s weird to find in a random bush, but I don’t feel dark energy coming from it.” 

Magolor shrugged. “Well, I figured that this wouldn’t have been the first time we ran into shiny things with dark energy.” 

Bullet nodded. “Ah... right.” They frowned. “What was this doing in a bush, anyway?” 

“Let me see it?” Taranza asked Magolor. He handed the charm to Taranza. “Oh, this is a keychain. Many of these are scattered across Floralia for whatever reason.” 

Honcho frowned. “Well, that’s certainly odd. I wonder how they got here.” 

“Maybe someone dropped a whole bunch once,” theorized Gooey. 

“Well, whatever happened, it’s not related to what we’re looking for,” said Magolor. “But I do want to keep this.” He took the keychain back from Taranza, and attached it to the right ear of his cloak. “After all, I do like gear designs.” 

\----- 

As Magolor’s group leisurely searched Fine Fields, Galacta and his group were scurrying from cover to cover on the fifth island, Endless Explosions, to avoid the flaming rocks that rained down from the sky. The Lor and Univou were having a telepathic conversation with one another, animatedly glowing. “Are you sure we have to look here?” Galacta called out. “I don’t see any flowers around, and I’d rather not be somewhere that’s literally called ‘Endless Explosions’.” 

_Well, yes,_ the Lor responded, cutting off her conversation with Univou to answer his question. _Even though there may be no flowers growing on this island specifically, the scan simply showed a location the energy was near, not the exact spot._

“It’s not so bad,” Spike said. “Reminds me of home.” 

“Oh right, you’re from Halcandra, huh,” Galacta responded. Spike nodded. A flaming rock fell dangerously close to them, and the group dashed to she side. 

_I would blast apart these rocks, but I fear that without Magolor at the control panel, my accuracy would be... less than ideal,_ the Lor sighed. 

“All right, I’m tired of this,” Galacta grumbled to himself. He pointed Univou skyward, its tip glowing an electric blue. In a blast, he sent a streak of lightning toward the sky. It branched off smaller bolts when it neared a rock, blasting it into tiny, inconsequential bits. Soon, the sky was clear. “That only got rid of maybe a few minutes worth of rocks. The volcano’s probably gonna spew out some more soon, so we should search quickly.” 

Those who had heads nodded in agreement. “By the way,” Flame began. “What do you think your lance and the Lor are talking about? I tried to peek into their conversation, but they threw me out. Telepathically.” 

Galacta tilted his head. “Well, I’m telepathically linked to Univou, so I can hear half the conversation, but I’m still not telling it to you. If they don’t want you listening in, it’s not my call to tell you what they’re talking about. But I can tell you that it’s absolutely uninteresting, and has no importance whatsoever.” 

Flame sighed. “Now I’m just more curious.” 

Galacta laughed to himself as he heard the conversation Flame was so curious about. _There is no reason why pants should be mass produced across the galaxies. Barely any creatures have legs that could utilize them correctly._ Univou paused, letting the Lor respond. _Well, yes, I suppose there used to be plenty of creatures like that, but even before being sealed away for who knows how long, there were barely any._ Galacta looked back over at Flame, who still seemed annoyed at being left out of the conversation, and chuckled again. 

\----- 

Hours later, the groups met back up in Fine Fields. They had searched each island thoroughly, but to their dismay, they had found nothing. 

“Well, that’s disappointing,” sighed Magolor. “There goes a few hours of my life I’ll never get back. Well, I suppose I did find this nice gear keychain.” 

“That’s good,” muttered Galacta, who was covered head to toe with soot. “It’s nice to know someone got something out of this.” 

Univou glowed. _Yes, and even though we didn’t find anything, I did have a wonderful conversation with the Lor._

Taranza sighed. “Well, we can’t say we didn’t try, at least.” 

Gooey hopped out of his hands. “We should have lunch now!” 

“Lunch does sound nice,” Honcho added. The ten of them settled down, taking a well-deserved rest. 

\----- 

Meta Knight landed on the final planet he was searching, planet Floria. Skyhigh, Hotbeat, Cavius, Mekkai, Halfmoon, Aquarius, and even the unknown, unnamed planet of TACs hadn’t shown any abnormal signs that may have signaled the presence of Dark Matter’s clone, so Floria was his last bet. 

He began his flight around the planet, now routine, looking at the landscape from below. He slowed his flight when he noticed a ripple in his peripheral vision. He looked around for the source of the movement, but looking directly at its location, nothing seemed out of the ordinary. He squinted, trying to focus, and when his vision seemed blurry from his eyelids’ shadow, he noticed the ripple again. Seeing it more clearly now, he could recognize the telltale signs of a powerful illusion. He flew back down towards the planet’s surface, one eye in a tight squint. 

When he landed, he couldn’t notice any disturbances, squinting or otherwise. Meta Knight raised his blade, building up magical energy, and attempted to strike out at the ethereal form of a shield. His magic-infused sword clanged off of it, and he tried again, this time smiling. With a slash, he cut the shield in two. A ripple of energy pulsed out around him, then it was gone. he began to explore the area. 

Dark Matter Clone watched as that pesky swordsman destroyed the shield. As Meta Knight strode closer, it did not move, as it had to tend to the Miracle Vines. Its clone companion stayed completely still, attempting to gather the magic around itself to restore the broken barrier. Meta Knight walked closer still, not noticing what he was looking for right in front of him. Dark Matter clone turned back to the Miracle Vines, unbothered by the intrusion. Meta Knight continued walking forward, looking around. He walked straight through Dark Matter Clone, as if it were a ghost. Dark Matter clone didn’t have the capacity to feel emotions, nor a mouth to smile with, but if it did, it would have grinned as Meta Knight flew away, back to the Halberd on Planet Popstar. It siphoned more of its energy into the plants that grew before him. They were almost ready.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, this chapter was significantly harder to write than basically every chapter preceding it. Hopefully from now on I'll be able to stick to a schedule of at least 600 words written per day.


	7. Darkness Returns

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> An old foe resurfaces once more, and all of Dreamland is in danger.

Kirby yawned and stretched as he sat up in his bed. He looked to the side, seeing Galacta’s usual note that he was off exploring, and set off to start the day. The sun was already high in the sky, as it usually was when he woke up. “Who should I play with today?” He smiled as he walked down the well-trodden path from his house. 

Along the side of the path, Kirby noticed some of his friends, Chuchu the octopus and Pitch the bird carrying some burlap bags. “Hey, Chuchu! Hey, Pitch!” he called out to them. “What’s up?” Upon hearing his voice, the two of them quickly hid the bags behind them. 

Chuchu laughed nervously. “Oh, hey Kirby! We were just, uh, walking around!” 

She shifted the bag behind her back. Kirby tilted his head, trying to see what the bags were. “What are those bags you have?” 

Chuchu looked around. “What bags? I don’t see any bags.” 

Pitch shook his head. “Chuchu, you’re a horrible liar.” He flew out from in front of the bag, which had the word ‘FLOUR’ written on it in big letters. “These bags are flour.” 

“Oh! Cool! Are you guys baking something?” Kirby looked at the flour more closely, thinking about what sort of treats they could be making from it. “Is it a cake? Can I help make it?” 

Chuchu and Pitch looked at each other. “Yep, we’re making a cake, but...” Chuchu looked at Kirby, who was practically drooling at the thought of a delicious cake. “We can’t let you help.” 

Kirby frowned. “Why not?” 

“We’re making this cake for a party tomorrow,” Chuchu told him. “And I know you wouldn’t be able to stop yourself from eating it, so...” 

Kirby nodded, a bit dejected. “You’re right,” he sighed. “Well, see you around.” 

Pitch looked at his disappointed expression, feeling a bit guilty, then went back to the bags of flour. The two of them resumed trying to carry the large bags as Kirby continued down the path, hoping to find more of his friends. 

Chuchu turned to Pitch. “That was close! I feel a little bad about that, but it’s for the best.” 

Pitch nodded, then looked around. “Isn’t it kind of weird we haven’t seen anyone but Kirby all day?” 

She thought to herself. “Huh. You’re right, now that I think about it. I wonder what’s happening?” 

Pitch didn’t respond. Chuchu tapped him on the shoulder, and he jumped a bit. “Wah!” 

“What’re you looking at?” 

Pitch tilted his head. “I’m not sure. I thought I saw something in the corner of my eye, but... I’m sure it’s nothing!” 

\----- 

Kirby had walking on the dusty path for a while now, but since he saw Pitch and Chuchu, he hadn’t seen any of his friends anywhere-- or anyone for that matter. With a sigh, he decided that maybe for today he would play by himself, and set out on the branching path towards the desert. 

As Kirby drew closer to the sandy expanse, he frowned. For some reason, barely anyone seemed to be out. “Huh. Maybe everyone’s at home,” he muttered to himself. He passed by a tree, looking around, when suddenly a hand reached around and tapped him on the back. Kirby spun around to see no one was there, only an arm retracting back behind the tree. He followed it around to the other side of the tree, but to his astonishment, no one was there. “Hello?” 

“Shh!” came a voice from nowhere. “I’m hiding! And I tapped you to warn ya, you should be too, kid.” 

Kirby frowned. “What? Why?” He looked closer at where the voice was coming from, and noticed a pair of eyes shut tight, the rest camouflaged. 

“Haven’t you heard?” the voice asked. “The king sent out a message earlier. Said there was a high chance of danger today. Not sure what the danger is, but I’m not takin’ any chances.” They opened one eye. “Normally, I’d be safe down in my burrow, but... wait, never mind, you’re Kirby.” 

Kirby nodded, a bit confused. “Yup. But why would today be dangerous?” 

The speaker ended their camouflage, revealing themselves as a tac, and shrugged. “No idea. But you’re Kirby, the legendary hero with infinite power, so you’ll be fine. Probably.” The tac faded back into the shadows. 

“Hm. Okay.” Kirby turned back to the path, continuing onwards. 

\----- 

After the tac, Kirby hadn’t seen anyone at all along the road to the desert. When he finally arrived, he dove face-first into the sand, rolling around. Rolling onto his back, he took a handful of sand and threw it. Kirby watched as the grains fell onto the dunes with a soft _swish_. With a sigh, he stood up. Usually, he’d be able to quite easily have fun on his own, but for some reason, sand was boring today. He inhaled some air, flapping his arms to ascend. 

As he floated above the desert, Kirby looked downwards. He surveyed the area from where he had come, noticing that barely anyone was out. He frowned, then something caught his eye. He looked over to where the sand met the trees of the forest, and noticed a familiar red cap. Kirby began to smile, and started descending towards the trees. 

Adeleine stood in front of her canvas, capturing the image of the desert before her. She painted the clouds above with many short, fast strokes, then blended the edges so they looked soft and fluffy. She stepped back to admire her handiwork, and a pink ball fell out of the sky. “Hi, Adeleine!” it said cheerfully. 

“Oh, hey Kirby!” Adeleine responded, recognizing her round friend. “What’s up?” 

“Not much,” Kirby sighed. “No one’s out because some sorta danger warning from Dedede.” 

Adeleine put her hand to her chin. “Oh yeah, I think I did hear one of those earlier. I went out anyway, since they never actually said what the threat _was,_ and I’m pretty capable of handling myself!” 

Kirby nodded. “Can I watch you paint?” he asked cheerfully. 

“Sure!” Adeleine told him. She turned back to her canvas as Kirby sat down behind her, watching her brush strokes. A movement in Kirby’s peripheral vision caught his eye, and he turned his head to see a dark blur streak out across the sand. 

“Adeleine! Did you see that?” Kirby turned his head around, looking for where it had gone. 

Adeleine turned to him. “Hm? See what?” Kirby looked around for where the blur had gone, then caught sight of it once more zooming across the sand at a high speed. 

“There!” he said, pointing. 

Adeleine looked in the indicated direction, dropping her paintbrush in surprise once she found it. “What the heck is that!?” She picked her brush back up. “That thing seems fishy. Let’s follow it.” 

Kirby nodded at her, and brought out a phone. The star on the end of its antennae rotated, then grew larger, sending out a signal as it did. Kirby’s personal Warp Star came flying out of the sky, and the two of them jumped on. As quick as it had come, the Warp Star rocketed off, hot on the trail of the mystery blur. 

After a few minutes of following behind at a safe distance, Kirby and Adeleine saw the dark shape enter a pyramid. The two of them hopped off the Warp Star as it crashed to the ground in an explosion of particles, and walked up to the ruin. 

“This gets weirder by the moment,” Adeleine said, frowning. “I’ve got a bad feeling about this.” 

Kirby peered in through the doorway. “I know what you mean. That fast thingy looked familiar somehow.” He stepped into the pyramid. “And it’s super dark in here!” 

“Oh! Right!” Adeleine brought out her canvas and quickly painted up a Cool Spook. It peeled itself off the paper, floating around aimlessly. “You can use the light ability if you eat this, right?” 

Kirby nodded. “Thanks!” He opened his mouth and sucked up the paint creation Adeleine had made. With a swallow, a golden halo manifested above his head. “Light Kirby!” 

Adeleine stepped through the doorway. “All right then, looks like we’re going in!” 

\----- 

Galacta Knight flew high above Dreamland, surveying out its geography. He looked down at the land below him, watching the serene landscape. From his height, the rivers and roads looked like fine strands of hair had been laid atop the planet. A dark spot appeared in his vision, and he lifted his mask slightly to rub his eye. When he looked back, the spot hadn’t left. 

_Galacta, do you sense that?_

Galacta lifted Univou. “What do you mean?” He turned back to the countryside. “Do you mean that strange black speck?” 

Univou glowed in affirmation. _Well, from what I can see, it’s more like thirty of them than just one. I wonder what they are? They’ve got a... unique energy signature. I just hope they aren’t dangerous to those poor Dreamlanders._

Galacta squinted. His vision wasn’t as perfect as it had been before he was sealed away, but with a bit of concentration, he noticed that Univou was right. A large number of black specks raced across Dreamland’s surface at worryingly high speeds. “Yes, that seems a bit.. hold on. Do you see the route that one is taking?” 

Univou focused its senses on where he was indicating, and Galacta could feel a telepathic wave of confusion run through it. _Yes... that is... the route to King Dedede’s castle? How odd._

Galacta flapped his wings once, then began to dive towards the castle as well. “I don’t know what those are, but somehow I feel like they can’t be good news. Let’s go warn Dedede.” 

\----- 

Kirby and Adeleine walked through the corridors of the now-lit pyramid, looking around for the shadow they had seen. Glyphs covered the walls, but they weren’t concerned with that. 

“Haven’t you been to Raisin Ruins before?” Adeleine asked Kirby. 

He nodded in response. “Dedede, Meta, Bandana and I all explored this area back when we were looking for the Lor Starcutter’s parts.” He looked around. “But I don’t think I’ve ever been in this specific building.” 

“Hm. That’s a shame.” The two of them turned a corner, and for just a moment, Adeleine saw something round and black disappear down a stairway. “There!” she called out. Kirby turned to her. “Did you see that?” 

Kirby shook his head. “We must be close to catching up!” They dashed down the stairs after it, finding themselves in a wide room, its walls covered with carvings of eyes. In the center was the thing they had been chasing. 

Adeleine stopped in her tracks. The creature turned around, revealing a single bloodshot golden eye on its pitch black body. Yellow orbs formed a ring on its back, and she took a step back. “Dark Matter...” 

The spherical creature turned back to the room, scanning the floor and walls for something. Adeleine could only watch on in fear, but she felt a tap on her back. She turned to look at Kirby, who looked just as surprised as she was. He pointed to the Dark Matter and whispered, “Can you paint something I can eat to fight with?” 

With Kirby’s request, Adeleine regained her composure and pulled out her canvas. With a few quick but shaky brush strokes, she created a Plugg out of paint. It burst to life off the canvas, and as soon as it had been born, it had been inhaled. Kirby swallowed the electric creature, and a crown of wildly fluctuating electricity appeared on his head. “Spark Kirby!” 

The Dark Matter turned toward the two of them, noticing the crackling. Adeleine shivered, remembering the time she herself had been under the control of one of its kind, but this time, she wasn’t going to go down without a fight. Kirby charged up static and Adeleine brought her paintbrush out in preparation for battle. 

The Dark Matter charged at them, sending waves of dark lightning at the two friends. They dodged out of the way, and Kirby released a large blast of his own electricity. Adeleine splattered some paint on the ground in front of Dark Matter, then brought out her canvas. As Dark Matter sent out more lightning, both of them had to run again. She rolled out of the way, and quickly painted the image of a wingless dragon. The painting sprung to life, and she called out to Kirby. The two of them hopped on top of the Ice Dragon. 

“Why is there a Dark Matter?!” Adeleine hissed. “I thought we defeated them during the last incident with the crystal shards!” 

Kirby opened his mouth, but had to duck when a blast of dark magic came sailing toward him. He popped his head back up and launched a bolt of lightning at the Dark Matter. “I think we should save conversation for later!” 

The paint-construct Ice Dragon opened its mouth and exhaled a blast of icy breath at the Dark Matter. Frost began to form on its body, but it flew out of the attack’s range soon enough. It detached some yellow spheres from its body, shooting them at Kirby and Adeleine. With a twitch of her paintbrush, Adeleine made the Ice Dragon jump over the projectiles, and they exploded underneath them. Icicles formed on the ceiling of the room, and with a body slam on the ground, they were dislodged. One icicle impaled Dark Matter, and it shot one final blast at them before dissolving into purple goop. 

The blast missed them entirely, hitting the wall, and Adeleine and Kirby were left staring at the goop in shock. 

\----- 

King Dedede was eating lunch in his castle. There had been reports of some scary dark things zooming around, so he had sent off a warning message. Considering the call he had gotten from Meta Knight a few days prior, it was very likely that Dark Matter had invaded Popstar. Again. He’d be out there kicking Dark Matter butt himself (if they even had butts), but out in the open he could get easily ambushed and maybe even possessed, if his helmet got knocked off. It’d be best to wait for them to come to him so he could fight them on his home turf. 

“How could this have happened so quickly?” Bandana Dee sighed. 

Dedede shook his head. “No clue, Bandana.” He slouched in his chair, unable to bring himself to eat the food in front of him for once. His possession-resistant helmet sat firmly on his head, and he twirled his hammer in his hand. If anything did come to the castle, he was well prepared. 

A waddle dee ran into the room. “Great King, Great King!” she squeaked. 

Dedede sat up straighter in his chair. “What’s up?” 

“There’s someone outside! They said they wanted to talk to you.” 

Dedede and Bandana exchanged glances. People possessed by Dark Matter couldn’t talk... right? After a moment, Dedede nodded to the waddle dee. “Let ‘em in,” he told her. “I’ll meet ‘em in the throne room.” She nodded, and left the room. 

Dedede and Bandana headed towards the throne. Bandana looked at him, worried. “Great King, are you sure you should just let anyone in? It could be dangerous!” 

Dedede shrugged. “Probably gonna be more dangerous for anyone out there right now. With all them terrifying freaks of nature out.” 

When they got to the throne room, Dedede sat down and Bandana stood beside him. After a short amount of time, the waddle dee came back with Galacta Knight in tow. 

“Here is the person who wanted to speak to you, Great King!” She bowed and then left. 

“You again, huh?” Dedede shifted in his seat. “Uh, Galacta Knight, right?” 

Galacta nodded. “Yes, that is my name. Anyway, I came here to warn you of a peculiar black creature heading right towards this castle. It was moving very quickly, so it should be here soon.” 

Dedede tensed. “Yeah, I know about those guys. Thanks for the warning though.” 

Another waddle dee ran into the room in a panic. Dedede, Bandana, and Galacta turned their heads. “What is it?” asked Bandana. 

They hunched over, out of breath. “There was... something got in! It started attacking everyone! It was big and shadowy and scary!” 

The three of them exchanged glances. Dedede adjusted his grip on his hammer. “Looks like we got some Dark Matter to fight. Can ya tell me where it is?” 

The waddle dee pointed in the direction they had come from. “It came in from the eastern entrance, and it’s heading right here!” 

Dedede grimaced. “Thanks for telling us.” He started towards where the waddle dee had indicated. “Let’s go fight this thing.” 

Galacta stretched his wings out. “I’ll help you battle it as well.” 

The three of them headed through the door, weapons in hand. 

\----- 

It wasn’t long before they found the monstrous creature. Most of the waddle dees had run away, and Galacta couldn’t blame them. If he were any weaker, he’d probably be quaking in his sabatons too. 

Dedede hit a switch, and the doors in the room closed and locked. “There,” he mumbled. “It can’t get out now. It’s trapped.” 

Bandana shivered. “And so are we...” 

They both swallowed nervously as it turned its eye to them. Seeing the trio, it shot bolts of black lightning at them from its eye. Dedede and Bandana swiftly dodged to the sides, and Galacta held up his shield to block the blow. The dark magic was deflected off of it, but it came close enough for Galacta to sense the true danger of what he was dealing with. He raised Univou, intending to end the creature in one fell swoop, but to his surprise, it dashed out of the way with an uncanny speed. 

“Ack!” The Dark Matter was headed straight for Dedede. He raised his hammer, swinging at the looming sphere to keep it away. Galacta and Bandana rushed towards him to help, but before they could reach him, the Dark Matter weaved through his swings and into his body, possessing him. 

Or, at least it tried to. 

The Dark Matter bounced off Dedede, and he managed to get a hit in, knocking the creature away. “Looks like my helmet really does work!” With restored confidence, he looked around the room for his foe. “Where’d it go?” 

Bandana tapped Dedede on the sleeve, shivering. Dedede turned to him. “You think I hit it so hard it just exploded into nothingness or something?” 

Bandana shook his head, and pointed at Galacta. He was standing in the center of the room with his eyes pointed toward the floor, their color flickering wildly between a crimson red and his regular magenta pink. After a second, the flickering stopped, and he looked toward them with red eyes. His lance’s hilt began glowing, and he tossed it to the side. 

“That ain’t good,” Dedede said in a small voice. Galacta unfolded his wings and flew directly at him. Dedede raised his hammer, but quicker than a blink, his helmet was stolen from his head. Seemingly satisfied, Dark Matter Galacta raised his free arm, and a blinding explosion demolished one of the walls. He flew away, the Zero helmet in his hold. 

Bandana Dee walked up to the destroyed wall. “This... I can’t believe that just happened.” 

Dedede nodded slightly in shocked agreement. 

\----- 

Adeleine and Kirby emerged from the ruin’s entrance. On the way there, Kirby had brought her up to speed with the Dark Matter clone situation. 

“It just doesn’t make any sense,” she mumbled. “How could one of them, with only slightly above average power for a Dark Matter, make another one? Are there any more out there?” 

Kirby shrugged. “Well, couldn’t Zero and 02 split off smaller Dark Matter from itself? Maybe that’s what’s happening!” 

Adeleine shook her head. “Yeah, but they were, like, the _leaders_ of Dark Matter. It doesn’t make sense for a regular one to do that! It’s just not powerful enough!” 

Kirby put his hand to his chin in thought. “Well, what if--” He was cut off by the Lor Starcutter coming out of a portal above them. It landed smoothly in front of the two of them, and the door opened. Taranza rushed from the ship to Kirby, looking worried. 

“Kirby! There’s some trouble! I need you to help!” 

Kirby nodded to his spidery friend. “Of course! What do you need help with?” 

Taranza stopped in front of them. “It’s Gooey. He’s been kidnapped!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know I said I would have a writing schedule so I could get these chapters out faster last time, but I'd recommend disregarding that. Anyway, sorry about the cliffhanger, but it just felt right. [insert swear word here because I'm not using swears in this fic, even in the notes]'s about to go down.


End file.
